Soar Above
by StarsMagic
Summary: "I've given up. What are we suppose to do? We don't even have our full powers." When all seems lost, a group of outcast teens join together in hopes of defeating the evil that was shadowing the Magic Dimension. They'll have to trust each other for the first time in their lives. This new Villain, however, may be too much for the teens. Closed SYOC
1. Chapter 1

_**Prologue**_

_**Unstoppable**_

_When all is lost and darkness is ahead,_

_The once white rivers will red,_

_Those who challenge the all mighty shadow,_

_Will find themselves standing in sorrow,_

_And will bow willingly to the dark sky_

_And those who once questioned will die._

_As the sky falls, so will the fairies, one by one, until there are none left._

He chuckled darkly as he plunged the fairy in front of him into darkness. Her screams echoed off the walls, ringing in the ears of the man. His lips curled up into a diabolic smile. As the fairy fell at his feet he knelt down and lightly traced a large S on the underside of her right wrist. When he lifted his finger, the letter glowed bright before dulling down and a stream of blood began to flow from the cut.

_The dark will spread from valley to sea,_

_Destroying all who stand in the way of he._

_One will Rise,_

_And One will Fall_

_Is there no one who can save them all?_

He watched with great satisfaction as the Prophecy became clearer. He would rise, they would fall. He would conquer everything and everyone. Soon, his laughed filled the air and his eyes pierced through the dark sky. He would watch, and wait. He would wait until it was his time, and when it once he would destroy the world of Magix.

His eyes gleamed wickedly. He had no soul, no heart. He was simply a shadow of the night. And it would stay that way, until the time was right. He would continue picking off fairies when he felt necessary, but other than that, he would be invisible.

_Black to White_

_Night to Day_

_He's the Yin,_

_And they're the Yang._

Yet, what the mysterious man did not know was that he was not unstoppable. There was three who could stop them, if they discovered their power in time. The man, having thought ahead, was not worried by this. Instead, he figured he could easily pick them off, one by one.

_Three Powerful Fairies,_

_Have the power to defeat him._

_With friends by thier sides,_

_They will conquer the lies._

_They will triumphant the darkness,_

_They will come out of the blackness._


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter One**_

_**Unknown**_

"It just doesn't make sense." Lauren Nelson sighed exhausted. The forty five year old teacher had been sitting at a large round oak table for the past thirty two hours investigating the death of a young sophomore fairy whose body had mysteriously appeared in a dark alley in Magix. "Why would someone kill a practically unknown fairy?"

Leander Vaughn sighed, his head falling into his hands. "Maybe he wants to get a strong message across to us? I mean killing a random student certainly did get our attention." He suggested lifting his head slightly and shrugging his shoulders.

"No. No this fairy was specifically picked. We have pictures dating from three months ago showing how he followed this girl. She wasn't someone he just found on the streets. The question is why?" Andrew Witley uttered closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose.

Spread out on the table was multiply black and white photos of the young fairy Claire Marie Knightly. The fifteen year old sophomore had attended Alfea and was on her way to becoming a bright leader. She had almond shaped light blue eyes. Her thick eyelashes shadowed her eyes in most of the pictures. Claire's shoulder length sun-kissed brown hair that is arranged in elegant natural ringlet curls was pinned back. She was on the smaller side at 5'1 ft. tall, and was very petite.

The last few pictures were of the poor Alfea fairy's terrified face, and the last picture was of the body of the, bruised and bloodied in the position that the Police find it. The girl's body was on the left side, her right arm extended. In another photo there was a close up of the underside of her right wrist. A large deep red S was carved into her arm. It was a painful sight to see.

"Okay, New topic, does the man's name start with an S, or is that the name of the group he works with?" Lauren pointed out, grimacing as she took hold of the large picture.

"This was defiantly a single man job. Not only that, this man was cocky. He was," Andrew swallowed hard, "sloppy. He didn't take a whole lot of time to hide his prints. Our time spells were able to see exactly what happened."

"Then why hell can't we figure out who he is and why he did this?" Leander asked angrily slamming his hand down on the table, breathing heavily. The others starred at him, slightly shocked at his sudden outburst. An eerie silence filled that rather large conference room.

After a couple of moments something dawned on Christina Moore, a younger teacher. "Maybe," She suggested quietly, "We're looking at this the wrong way. Let's review what we do know about our killer and his victim."

The others looked to each other and shrugged, they still had nothing to go on. "Okay, victim, Claire Marie Knightly. She's from Sparrain, an old fashion planet. She's fifteen, one of the youngest sophomores at Alfea, and she has the ability to control time. Our killer is most likely a male in his mid-thirties. He's rather tall, and we're pretty sure his name starts with an S. And he works alone." Lauren began to point out, looking over a small clip board.

"Well, that's good information. But it still tells us absolutely nothing." Leander sighed, leaning back in his chair. "Maybe we should leave this to the Police of Magix. So far this has gotten us nowhere. And we're not detectives."

"He has a point. We are only teachers." Christina chimed in after no one said anything. Andrew sighed, closing his eyes tightly.

"But that's just it. We are teachers. One of our students died by the obvious use of dark magic. What more, a Charmix Fairy." He told the others with a sad shake of his head. "If she can't protect herself, what hope do the freshmen have?"

Lauren sighed, attempting to drown out the sound of the other teachers. Rubbing her temples she called out, interrupting Andrew mid-way through sentence. "We have to protect our students from this. Nothing of this nature can ever happen again."

"But how?" Andrew asked confused, looking hopelessly lost. "We've taught them the best we can. We can't teach them everything in one year."

"I know that Andrew. We're going to create a group. In this group, which will be constructed of the finest fairy teachers, wizard teachers, fighter teachers and witch teachers, we will make sure nothing like this ever happens again." Lauren summed up, looking quite serious at her co-workers.

Christina looked down, blushing slightly. "What if we can't stop him?" She whispered her words barely audible. "What if he does this again? Lauren, I can't have blood on my hands. I couldn't handle that." She continued, tears welling up in her eyes and freely rolling down her cheeks.

"You don't have to worry about that Christina, we will stop him." Leander comforted the young adult. Christina took a shallow breath and held it, shaking her head to acknowledge Leander.

"Now, we all have our schools and classes to get back to, I suggest we close this meeting at talk again next week." Lauren told the others, looking knowingly over the rims of her glasses. A murmur of 'Okays' went around the table as the four adults stood.

As they began to leave Lauren called them back one more time. "One other thing, no one must know about this . . . Court. Understand?" The others nodded and walked freely out the door. Leander and Christina leaving together, Andrew trailing behind.

"Mr. Witley, is something worrying you?" Lauren asked when she noticed Andrew had failed to leave the room. Andrew turned to face the slightly younger woman.

"It's just that," He began, struggling for words, "Do you think Christina and Leander are ready for this? They are awfully young." He stated his face with deep lines of worry and anxiety in his eyes.

Lauren smiled kindly. "I don't think you have to worry about them Andrew. Now go home, get to your next class. Stop thinking about this for now." She commanded gently, giving him a small nudge towards the door.

Andrew nodded timidly. "Right, class." He mumbled, whipping the beads of sweat from his forehead and racing out the door to catch up with Christina and Leander.

After navigating their way through multiply twist and turns, the trio found the front door. As they continued to walk, Andrew and Christina deep in conversation, Leander became distant as his eyes focused on something entirely different. There was a girl, about seventeen, possible sixteen, stood in the shadows of an alley way they were pass, chuckling darkly while her eyes pierced right through Leander. Her waist length pale blond hair was tied into a pony tail and her ruby red eyes were playful. She looked as if she was taunting him, calling him. Leander shuddered involuntarily as they walked past her.

The further away they got from the girl, the more Leander thought of her. She was evil. There was no doubt of that in his mind. Her eyes hold nothing but pure darkness. He briefly thought of turning around and confronting the girl, but quickly decided against it. He wasn't sure how dangerous this girl was, or even if he was just hallucinating. After all, he was tired from the Knightly case and it seemed every person he saw was evil.

Christina watched Leander with slight interest. He was distant, his eyes unfocused and his mind obviously somewhere else. A sudden eerie feeling came over Christina. It was the feeling as if she was being watched. As a shudder ran down her spin large goose bumps began to appear on her bare skin. She shivered while rubbing her arms with her hands, attempting to warm up. "I'm just going to catch a bus to Cloud Tower." She stuttered, interrupting Andrew mid sentence.

Andrew looked at her strangely. He had known Christina for well over four years now and he had yet to see her spooked this much. The twenty two year old was pale, looking slightly sickly. Andrew then looked to Leander, to see his reaction. He was surprised to see that the twenty four year old was distant and also looked slightly freaked out. Andrew's eyebrows drew together, confused. Leander usually hung on Christina's every word, especially since to two had begun dating seven months ago. What in the world is going on here? He thought rather bitterly. Andrew had never been a fan of being left out of things.

While the trio stood rather frozen in the middle of the side, the girl from the dark alley ran quickly through downtown. Her blonde hair flew behind her and a mischievous grin tugged at her lips. She had completed her mission, to frighten the group of teachers investigating the death of one of his victims. He had insisted that the best way to keep the teachers at bay was not to start a war, but instead scare them, make it a mystery.

That's why he had done the job alone. He wanted to confuse them, make them think they knew what they were investigating. The girl snorted. Fairies, Witches, and Specialist were such idiots. She cocked her head slightly at the fact that she just insulted herself, along with her friends. She shrugged, continuing downtown quickly, stopping in front of a small coffee shop. She grinned playfully as she pulled out a small silver key, pushing it into the key hole and pulling open the door.

A small bell chimed as she opened the door and stepped in. "Hello?" She called out, "Anyone here?" She waited a second and when no answer came, she sighed. She was alone so often. The seventeen year old shook it off and walked behind the long counter. When she pulled the long lever meant to be used to make coffee the wall behind her swung up. Smiling smugly, she climbed over the counter and walked through the open space into a dark room filled with technology.

She sat in front of a small computer, her chin resting in her hand, and began punching an assortment of buttons, the screen beginning to glow bright. She smiled when a rather blurry black and white video began to play. She watched as the trio she had spooked walked and talked. She giggled when she saw the woman freeze. She knew that the woman could sense her presence.

The sound of a heavy door opening had the girl out of her seat within seconds. The only reason the door would be opening is if he was home. She giggled excitedly as his footsteps become closer. As she rushed to pull the video onto the large screen, the footsteps stopped. She turned around expectantly but scoffed when she realized it wasn't who she was expecting. "What are you doing here?" She asked the younger boy who stood a few feet away from her.

"I live here, like you." The boy replied sounding slightly annoyed. The girl shook her head and rolled her eyes, turning her back to the boy. "It's nice to see you too." He muttered, sidestepping the distracted girl. "What are you even doing?" He asked attempting to peek over the girl's shoulder.

"None of your business." She snapped, shooing the boy away. The boy rolled his eyes and began to walk away.

"Like I care anyway." He lied casually, sticking his hands in his pockets. Another heavy door slamming brought both teens to a halt.

"He's home!" The girl cheered excitedly clapping her hands. The boy also smiled, excited for the return of his hero. Heavy and loud footsteps traveled rather slowly towards the duo. The footsteps came to a stop and a man stood in front of the two teenagers.

"Hello children."


	3. Chapter 3

_**Chapter Two**_

_**Spread Your Wings**_

Lyra Silvermist didn't like the rain. Despite having the powers of water and her love of swimming, the sixteen year old was never a huge fan of being wet and cold. She shivered and shook her long blonde hair as she approached one of the registration desks.

"Name?" The short mid-aged woman asked tiredly, after all, she had seen over three hundred fairies that hour alone. Lyra tipped her head forward slightly in an attempted to hide her ocean blue eyes. She noticed that the woman wasn't looking up from her computer. Lyra sighed silently and tapped her long finger nails on the desk in hopes that the woman would look at her. "Name?" The woman asked again, sounding annoyed. Lyra began to tap faster and louder until the woman sighed and looked up.

Lyra began to sign her name and planet, but the woman held up her hand to stop her. "Sorry," She began, not sounding sorry at all, "I don't know sign language." She told the girl rather bluntly. "I'm afraid you'll have to find another desk to register at." Lyra looked down deeply disappointed. She had been waiting in the rain in that line for well over an hour.

"She said," A new voice came, "Her name is Lyra Silvermist of Aquaris." Lyra looked to the new girl in surprise. The girl had short layered blonde, almost white, hair with side bangs and violet eyes. She was short, about 5'1, and was Caucasian. "My name's Jennifer Tyreen. But you can call me Riley, that's my middle name." The girl smiled, talking to Lyra.

Riley walked closer to the desk smiling at Lyra, but slightly glaring at the woman behind the desk. "Jennifer Tyreen of Tyrren, I'll help Lyra, so if you'll just give us our information, we'd appreciate it." Jennifer told the woman rather snippily. The woman clicked her tongue unhappily, but quickly pulled out two packets and handed them to the two awaiting girls. "Thank you."

Lyra followed Riley as they walked down a long hallway to what Lyra assumed was their rooms. Lyra hesitated as she carefully and gently tapped Riley on the shoulder. Riley spun around and Lyra once again tipped her head forward in order to hide her face. _Thank you for what you did back there._ She quickly signed before she lost the courage. _I greatly appreciate it._ _Barely anyone understands sign language now days, and anyone who does is usually deaf or mute like me. _Riley smiled.

"It was really no problem, I use to have a friend who was deaf, that how I learned it." Riley explained as they rounded yet another corner. "Man, this school sure is big isn't?" The sixteen year old continued, looking in awe at her home for the next year.

_That's what I thought when I first saw this school too._ Lyra smiled in agreement. The rest of the walk was in silence for the most part. There were a few occasional glances and smiles, but other than that, the two walked quietly. As they headed up a long steep purple staircase, they passed by several students.

When they reached the top, the first door on the right was the one that Lyra and Riley stopped at. "Looks like this is your room." Riley stated, sounding slightly disappointed. Lyra nodded and pulled out the key the woman had handed her. Before she stepped in, Riley stopped her. "Umm, look. If you ever need anything, like someone to translate for you, or want to hang out or something, just um, contact me at this number." She finished stiffly sticking out her arm, with a small strip of paper in her hands. Lyra nodded and more than willingly accepted the piece of paper.

Meanwhile, Kristina Ann Reeds carefully set her black bag down on top of her plain bed. She took a deep breath, taking in her surroundings. She absent-mindedly sat on her bed; the fifteen year old girl was nervous, very nervous. It wasn't her first time at a boarding school; no she had gone to a rather expensive boarding school for the last four years of her life. But she had never gone to a fairy school. In fact, she didn't even know that magic existed until a few years ago.

Kristina had grown up in the dreary town of Fredericksburg, Virginia. Her life was boring. It's not that she had a bad upbringing; it's just that she wasn't a huge fan of the humidity and rain. Kristina was adopted, along with her blood-related brothers Caleb, William, and Logan. For the first eight years of it, she was happy. She was just the run of the mill girl next door. But Kristina was always different. So were her brothers. It was quite painfully obvious during school and other events. Her parents tried to tell her it was just a phase, but she knew better. She knew she was unique. She just wasn't sure how.

Well now she knew. And boy did she hate it. A lot. She sighed and allowed her medium length light brown curly hair to fall in her face, covering her dark blue, almost black, eyes. She stayed that way for a while until she heard the sound of the dorm door opening and closing. She stood up from her bed and made her way to the living room part of her dorm that connected the three rooms together.

In the middle of the room stood a girl, at least eighteen, she had waist length dark brown hair and light aqua eyes. The girl was taller than Kristina, who was only five feet tall. "Um. Hi. My name is Harmony Dasen, from Veritas." The girl stuttered out nervously. Kristina nodded.

"Krist – Roxanna Dara of Kalinfea. But you can call me Kristina." Kristina informed the girl, however her words came out hesitant. There was a large moment of awkward silence as the two girls stared at each other.

It was never easy for Harmony to make new friends, and this was often how meeting new people ended for her. Not that Kristina was any better; in fact, she might have been worst then Harmony. The loner was slightly creepy and dangerous looking for her young age. Kristina was wearing a black jean folded mini skirt and a black belt with a silver star in the center of it. She was also wearing a thin purple hoodie and a black tight leather jacket with purple knee high socks under black all-star knee high converses that show a little bit of the socks.

Kristina wasn't sure if she could be friends with this girl. They didn't exactly look like they came from the same side of town. Harmony was wearing an off the shoulder blue top with skinny jeans and ballet flats along with a cap. "Um, I'm going to go, um, finish un-packing." Kristina excused herself, sticking her head phones in her ears as she left the room.

Harmony sighed, slightly happy that she left and the awkward moment was over. At the same time, however, Harmony suddenly felt slightly alone. She shuttered. It wasn't a feeling she wasn't to get used to. Harmony pushed herself off the bright pink couch and picked up her bag heading towards her room.

Harmony quietly began to unpack her bag, racking her brain for anything to think of. She just wanted something to preoccupy her mind. Unfortunately, that meant her thoughts drifting to her planet and duties at home. Including the fact that soon she would be marring the Prince of a neighboring planet. It's not that he was that bad of a guy, in fact, he was actually pretty nice. It was just the fact that she didn't love him. And she was pretty sure he didn't love her. Harmony shook her head of those thoughts, dropping what was in her hand. She walked out onto her balcony and took a deep breath of fresh air. She just needed to think of something else.

Below Harmony was the hurrying of all the late fairies. One late fairy was Payson June, or Pay as she was known to friends. The sixteen year old was struggling with her heavy green suitcase as she made her way, through the rain, to the late registration desk. The poor fairy had completely forgotten about the registration dead line and had yet the register. Of course, that didn't stop the young eager fairy from at least attempting to register.

Pay clumsily made her way to the desk where a younger teacher greeted her. "Hello, how may I help you?" She asked a little too cheery for someone who had been sitting in the rain for hours. Pay nodded timidly, pulling out a crumpled letter. The teacher read over the note at least three times before smiling again. "Okay sweetie, let me just find you a room and register you in our computers and you'll be set." The woman informed her with a large grin.

As the woman typed away on her keyboard, Pay finally took the time to take in her surroundings and where she was. She had finally come to the famous school of Alfea. It took a lot of convincing, but her father finally allowed her to attend Alfea. Despite not have earning her wings yet, Pay still had a pretty good idea of what her powers were. She was almost positive that she had the power of love and peace. It made sense, going with her kind and caring nature. "Okay, you'll be in dorm 4B on the ninth floor." The teacher told Pay, interrupting her train of thought. Pay looked up as the teacher handed her the key and a packet of paper. "Here's your key and your schedule and the Official Alfea Freshmen Handbook." The young teacher told Pay, piling thing after thing into her arms.

Pay nodded and began to hobble off, attempting to read the map while balancing all her things. "And don't forget, Freshmen Orientation is in two hours!" The woman called after the short curly red head. She turned around and thanked the woman, her light blue eyes sparkling. As she spun back around, she bumped heads with a tall deep chocolate reddish-brown haired girl, who was about nineteen. She bright green eyes blinked angrily as the two fell to the ground.

"Hey! Watch where you're going freshmen!" The girl blow up, and Pay cowered as she quickly picked up her books and things. "Seriously that hurt!" The girl continued, and Pay began to shake involuntarily. She didn't like being yelled at. The girl seemed to be about to go on, until she saw the look on Pay's face. "Oh. Um, hey. Look, I didn't mean to yell at you. Sorry. I kind of have a temper." She explained embarrassed, scratching the back of her head as she bended down to help the girl pick up her books. "My name's Sam Quinn. Well, technically Samantha Quinn, but you better not call me that, okay?" She joked playfully and when Pay didn't answer, continued. "What's your name?"

"Payson June, but you can, um, call me Pay." Pay told the girl shakily. Sam nodded, smiling slightly. They stayed on the floor for a while, attempting to pick up everything that had fallen, blocking the way of other fairies during the process.

When the two stood up, Sam took Pay's map. "Hey, I know where this is! Do you want me to show you to it?" She asked eagerly. Pay hesitated, but smiled in the end and nodded. Sam also smiled; glad to be given a chance to show the girl she wasn't that bad.

As Sam led the younger girl through the halls of Alfea, she couldn't help but think of her family. The girl reminded her of her sister Annabelle, quiet, polite, gentle. Sam swallowed the large lump in her throat. She couldn't help but think of her parents. Her poor mother had raised her and her sister as a single mother after a horrible incident occurred with her father. Sam shut her eyes tight, as if to block the memories from her mind. She didn't want to think about that, not after she promised to make this year the best year ever. Sam sighed. As nice as this girl may have seemed, she couldn't let Pay into her life. She would just end up hurting her involuntarily.

About five hundred feet from Pay and Sam stood Illeana Von Christ jiggling her key in the lock of her new dorm door. She huffed in frustration; she knew her key was defective. Why else would she not be able to open her door. She jiggled the knob of her door and then hit the door when it did not open. The nineteen year old cursed silently, she knew she was making a fool of herself before school even started, but she didn't really care. She shook her jet black shoulder length hair annoyed, causing her bangs to fall into her eyes. She blew air up to make her bangs leave her almond shaped green eyes.

Illeana had the power over Air and Wind, which was helpful at times. Illeana once more banged on the heavy wooden door angrily before closing her eyes to calm herself. She did that often, she liked to imagine herself in a 'happy place'. Her 'happy place' was usual her home planet before the accident. Unfortunately, when she thought of happy times on her home planet, the first image that comes to her mind was her best friend, Elvira Winters. The name only sent shivers down Illeana's spin.

Illeana was out casted from her planet years ago after a horrible accident. The accident wasn't really an accident though. What it was, Illeana was unsure, but she did know it wasn't her fault. Not that she had much luck convincing her planet that it wasn't. Illeana shook her head once more.

Illeana was brought back to the real word by a gentle voice asking, "Are you okay?" Illeana opened her eyes and nodded, looking at the seventeen year old girl. The girl was tall and had waist length black hair. She had dark green eyes. The most noticeable thing about the girl was the fact that she had a black and green piece of armor on her right shoulder that reached from the middle of her upper arm to about three inches over her shoulder. "My name is Carolyn Acserence, but you can call me Alyx, my middle name."

Illeana nodded, smiling slightly. "My name's Illeana Von Christ. This is my dorm and I think my key's defective." She told Alyx laughing slightly.

Alyx returned the laugh and smiled. "Well, this is my dorm too. I can open the door for both of us." She told Illeana, fishing through her bag in order to find her key. "Where the hell is that damn key?" She cursed quietly before pulling the silver key out of her bag. "Here it is." She proclaimed happily. Alyx took out Illeana's key and stuck her own in, she twisted it and the door fell open.

Alyx stepped into the room first; she looked around at the overly cheerful living room. She took a deep breath as if it would help her accept that she was once again at Alfea. Alyx was from the planet of Tyrren and had the ability to control fire. Alyx had virtually no family, and Magix was really her home. She had been living in Magix for the past three years after something that scarred her for life happened. Alyx found it easiest to just ignore these problems, though many counselors tired to get her to talk about it. "Thanks for letting me in." Illeana thanked Alyx with a smile. Alyx grinned widely, forgetting her memories.

"It was no problem. But you know what, if we don't get unpacked, we're going to miss Orientation." Alyx joked with Ileana and the girl nodded.

"Guess you're right." Illeana responded and thanked Alyx one more time before leaving to go into her own dorm.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Chapter Three**_

_**Draw Your Weapons**_

Logan Reeds was never one to follow rules. He hadn't followed the rules in third grade when he put glue on his sister's chair in Art Class. He also hadn't followed the rules in seventh grade when he ditched a week of school to go see The Victim Flames Band. He certainly wasn't going to begin following the rules now. True, this was a new school and a chance to start a new, but that was never Logan's thing. He happened to like who he was, or more so who he had become. Logan cut in front of the long line of freshmen, a few looked annoyed and others looked angry, but the fifteen year old didn't look like the type of guy they really wanted to approach. Logan grinned widely, but his smile never reached his dark blue, almost black, eyes.

Logan wouldn't necessarily say he was hiding. It was more along the lines of playing a role. He didn't want people to know he was a scared freshmen like the rest of them. He didn't want people to know that he had huge family problems. And he defiantly didn't want people to know he cared.

Logan grew up on Earth with his twin sister and two older brothers. He wouldn't say he had a bad up-bringing. He was adopted by a nice couple at an early age. His adoptive father was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Marines and his adoptive mother was a High School Biology Teacher. He had even thing he needed, but he just wasn't like everyone else. Unfortunately, he and his siblings were never well-liked in school. They never had many friends, which made them even closer as siblings. Logan wouldn't say that it was his brothers fault for disappearing when he was eleven, and he wouldn't say that it was his sister's for leaving when he was twelve, Logan had just been heading down the wrong path from the beginning, their absentness just made it worst.

Logan pondered the idea as he sidestepped one of the upperclassman who was bending down picking up his things. The upperclassman had short, messy honey brown hair and green eyes. He was tall, about five feet six inches, and skinny. He had slight muscles but not many. He was carrying multiply books and a green laser whip. Logan fell, having not watched where he was going, over the boy. "Damn it." Logan cursed loudly. The boy sat up, trying to mask his amusement.

"Sorry about that man." He told Logan, a smile still on his face. "Name's Tobe, Tobe Rowan." Logan held his head, looking annoyed.

"Logan Reeds. Or James Dara." Logan told the boy. The eighteen year old looked confused.

"Two totally different name? What's up with that?" He asked, genuinely interested.

"That's a long story." Logan countered, looking as though he didn't really want to talk about it.

"That's cool, my room's on the thirteenth floor." Tobe told the younger specialist with a grin. Logan looked at him, slightly pleased that someone actually took an interest in his life. As he launched into his life story, Tobe studied him. Tobe didn't particularly trust people immediately. He would greet people with a wry smile, but he wouldn't become instant friends with them. Tobe had been from the planet of Linphea, which had become famous after the one of the Winx had come from it. Most of his life was spent watching tourist fuss over Linphea's everyday life.

Tobe life was actually simply for the most part, that is, until he found his father. His father really changed his life, he wasn't exactly sure if it was in a good or a bad way. Tobe had grown up with his mother, Rose, and his half-sister, Duille. When he did find his father, he discovered that he was the child of Lord Cypre.

Tobe was brought back to reality when a heavy door slammed. Logan and Tobe turned around, trying to figure out what it was, but had no luck. Logan shrugged it off, but Tobe couldn't help but wonder what it was.

While Logan and Tobe continued to converse, Daniel Dragon stood a couple of paces ahead of them. Daniel cursed as he attempted to read the school map in his hand and still balance his three bags. The popular senior still had trouble finding his way around such a large school. Daniel was oddly standing alone, which rarely happened. He was one of the most popular seniors at Red Fountain. Daniel had jet black hair and dark green eyes. He was tall, possibly reaching his full height at his age. He was also muscularly built, like most specialists were.

Daniel was from the planet Evergren. It was a small, practically unknown planet. His planet was strictly against magic and any uses of it. They threw anyone who used magic in jail. It was a horrifying place to live; most residents of the planet lived in fear that their children would be dragged away for being a fairy, witch, or wizard. Of course, those were just the commoners. All the noble families also disagreed with magic. Daniel was part of the royal family, well, sort of. He had been disowned by his family after running away. Daniel completely disagreed with the whole 'magic is evil' idea that was going around his planet. His younger sister, Juliet, was sadly a fairy. His parents had yet to find out, but Daniel was sure that it was just a matter of time until they found out. Now that Daniel was eighteen, he was planning on returning home for his sister and taking her out of the hell she lived in. Of course, the task wasn't going to be as easy as it sounded. Daniel was already banished from the planet.

Daniel tried not to let the fact that he could never visit his home again bring him down. He was always an up-beat and lively person anyway. This was his last year at Red Fountain, and then he planned to make his way in the world as a skilled warrior. He knew he could do it, especially with his friends he had made at Red Fountain. Since it was his senior year, he was finally the commander of his very own squad. He hoped that his old friends would be part of it, and as far as he knew, he was going to have the biggest squad in the entire school.

"Daniel!" A voice called out to Daniel, and he spun in surprise, In front of him stood his best friend, Damian Shade. The seventeen year old hadn't really changed much over the summer and looked, generally, the same. He still had his chocolate brown hair and matching eyes along with his light skin tone. He was shorter than Daniel still, Damian was only six foot two and Daniel was six foot nine. Damian was skinny, yet muscular in a way.

Damian was a nerd, and a large one at that. Daniel and Damian usually wouldn't be put in the same social group, but the two had always been fond of each other from the beginning. Their friendship grew, however, when Damian saved Daniel's life, earning him the respect of everyone around him. Ever since then, Damian had no trouble making friends, but his best would always be Daniel. Damian was from the planet Elleganio. His planet was large in a sense and had many famous people, especially athletes, coming from it. Damian had always had the pressure of being great at some kind of sport. It was really because of that pressure that he began to read so much and he began to stop making friends and hanging out with the ones he had. He didn't have much confidence in himself as a child, but the knowledge that the books gave him made him feel like he was on top of the world.

Damian may have been a nerd, but he was an excellent shot. He had a skill of archery, and he wasn't a bad runner either. That was why when someone told him he wasn't useful he snapped. He knew that he was vital to the squad, and he was just glad he got to prove it in freshmen year. Not that he was happy they were in the situation they were in, but he was glad he was able to show what he could do.

"Damian! How was your summer?" Daniel asked with a large goofy grin on his face.

"Same as the last one. Spent the entire time alone reading or being nagged by my parents." Damian replied with a roll of his eyes. "How about yours? How was it visiting the good old family?" Damian asked in a sarcastic tone and Daniel smirked.

"Yeah, like I would visit the family. I snuck on just to say hi to Juliet and some friends." Daniel replied honestly and Damian nodded understandingly. Although he had never met any of Daniel's family besides Juliet, they sounded like a bunch of jerks.

A couple of feet away from the conversing duo was Alexander Archer or Alex as he was known to his friends. Alex smiled as he pulled out the door to the dorm he would be sharing with his future squad mates. If anyone had already been to the dorm, they were gone now. Alex knew that he was sharing a dorm with twelve other people, but luckily the dorm was more like a large apartment with six different bedrooms and three bathrooms. The nineteen year old senior would be sharing a room with someone named Raiden Turner. Alex didn't know most of the people in his squad, the only people he did know was Damian and Daniel, who happened to be in his squad last year.

Alex was from the planet Allegro, and he looked like he was. Most people from his planet had short cropped dark blonde hair, with really dark blue eyes. He had really tan skin from being in the sun a lot and he has a strong build. Alex was not only from the planet Allegro, he was also part of the royal family there.

Alex was raised differently than most Royals, he was raised to defend his planet and people instead of having them defend him. That's why his father had sent him away to Red Fountain, well that and the fact that he wasn't taking his mother's death all too well. Alex had always been close to his mother, closer than he has ever been to anyone else. Alex was actually close to his entire family. To him, his father was a hero and his role model. His little sister, Arielle, was someone who he loved to hang out. In fact, she would be able to go to Alfea in about a year. It's just that he had a special connection with his mother.

A door opening and closing made Alex turn around. Behind him stood a boy, about seventeen, he had short layered dirty blonde hair, along with light blue eyes. The boy was tan and average height. "Oh. Um, hey. My name's Alexander." The boy told Alex with a smile.

Alex raised an eyebrow and a smile tugged at the corners of his lips. "Seriously? My name's Alexander too. But I go by Alex." He told Alexander who looked equally as surprised.

Alexander Golden was born on the planet Titanius. He had a normal childhood for the most part; he grew up with his younger sister Clara, his older brother Sam, and his mother and father. Alexander would say he had a happy childhood. He and his family were always pretty close, and he had lots of great friends, the only thing he didn't have was a girlfriend. That was his goal for the year actually. When Alexander was thirteen, it was discovered that he was a wizard. He could control illusions; he still went to Red Fountain though. His father went to Red Fountain, his grandfather went to Red Fountain, his brother, his uncle. Pretty much all of his male relatives went to Red Fountain. At first, he was dreading it, but now, he had so many good friends and he was able to develop another skill in defense and offense. It was pretty much a win-win.

Alexander was also a musician, and a good one at that. He had a talent when it came to the guitar. He was truly gifted. It was his dream to become a famous musician. In fact, he want to go to a famous Music school, but his father put so much pressure on him going to Red Fountain, he just couldn't bring himself not to.

"So, um, who's your roommate?" Alex asked the younger teenager interrupting the awkward silence that was filling the dorm.

"Uh," Alexander looked down at his schedule and papers. Raiden Turner. "Some guy named Raiden Turner."

Cameron Lynx stood in the middle of the twelfth floor hallway, almost directly below Alexander and Alex. The seventeen year old was getting quite a few odd glances and a couple of confused stares. He tried to shake them off, but couldn't get past the eerie feeling of being watched. Cameron looked slightly different than most seventeen year olds; he had shaggy cobalt blue hair, with indigo eyes. He was tall, at five foot nine, and slender. The oddest features of Cameron were his blue cat ears and tail. It was true; Cameron was part cat, like most people from his planet were.

Cameron was born on the planet Durrikan. It was an odd planet, but actually commonly found. There was usually one like it in every realm. Durrikan was a nature loving planet with plenty of forests. It was rather medieval like in its culture and the way it was ruled. Most people from Durrikan were cat-like. Some hated water, Cameron a prime example, others had nine lives (or they were extremely lucky). In fact, it was uncommon not to have a cat like feature. Cameron lived with his sister Ursa and his mother. His father had left his family at an early age causing Cameron to become the man of the family. The only thing that Cameron had of his father's was his violin. While Cameron wasn't particularly happy with his father, he made sure he learned how to play it and play it well.

Cameron's family wasn't rich, they weren't dirt poor or anything, but they definitely couldn't afford to send Cameron to Red Fountain. Cameron's tuition was being paid for by the King of Durrikan. The King had noticed Cameron at an early age and already knew he wanted Cameron as his Head of Military. In order to make sure Cameron received the proper education, he paid for him to enter Red Fountain.

As Cameron attempted to figure out where the next staircase was, Axel Blaze stood behind him starring at this perky blue ears and long blue tail. He watched as Cameron walked away and tried to shake the awed thoughts from his mind. Axel was from the planet Elleganio. Axel had spiky blonde hair and onyx eyes. He was tall and had tanned skin. The eighteen year old was a junior at Red Fountain, seeing as he had started late.

Axel's planet had been attacked by Valtor during the time that the Winx were still around. His family had been a servant family to the Royal family. His mother was the Head Royal Nurse Maid, and the best one the kingdom's ever had. His little sister, Julia, who was too young to do anything by herself, was a helper to her mother until she found something that was her talent. His father was the best doctor in Elleganio, so of course the King requested he worked at the palace. Axel was the Princess's 'Sir-in-Waiting'. True the job was usually fulfilled by a woman, but he had a special bond with Princess Angel and she personally requested him.

Axel was happy with that life, but when Valtor attacked, he lost everything. His family, his job, his home. The only thing he didn't lose was Angel. Together, they decided that Axel would travel to Red Fountain and discover how to fix their planet, while Angel stayed on the planet and looked after it as best she could. It was a good plan for the most part, except Axel missed Angel and so far he had learned nothing of how to repair their planet. At this point, Axel was just hoping to find some friends that could help him.

Axel sighed and turned around only to immediately bump into an old friend, Raiden Turner. Raiden had changed greatly from the last time Axel had seen him. Raiden had black hair and grey eyes, which was the same, but he was also taller now and more athletically built. He was also tanner than Axel remembered.

"Raiden? It's me Axel!" Axel told the older boy in excitement. Axel had met the senior in his freshmen year, Raiden was Axel's mentor.

"Axel? Whoa, I didn't even recognize you!" Raiden told Axel with a large grin. "What squad are you in this year?"

"Uh," Axel pulled out his small piece of paper which told him his squad number and dorm room. "Squad 2702. What about you?"

Raiden fumbled with the paper because he hands were so full. "Let's see, Squad 2702." A moment of realization came upon the two and Raiden and Axel grinned widely.

"So at least I'll know one person in my squad this year. Want to walk together to the dorm?" Axel asked and Raiden nodded. The walk, however, was surprisingly quiet.

Nineteen year old Raiden was from the planet Rensa, a planet far away from Magix. Raiden had come to Magix with his little sister, Reda, about four years ago. His parent's had died in an accident that he had still not told Reda about. She assumed that her parents died of natural causes. Raiden was very over protective of his sister, he wouldn't even allow her to go to Alfea until she was seventeen. He had lost everyone in his family and he refused to lose his sister too. Raiden's dream was to become a teacher for the specialists. Raiden fought using two black sabers, but he was best at attacking while using a Level Bike. Raiden was a truly talent student.

Back at the Registration Desk, Nathaniel Jay Smith waited patiently in the long line. The nineteen year old had silver hair that reached a couple of inches past his shoulders and was spiked. He had emerald green eyes and was six feet tall. Nathaniel was wearing a white button up shirt with sleeves rolled up to his elbows a black vest. He also had on black jeans and black sneakers. Nathaniel was from the planet Yen. Yen was considered the planet of peace. The planet was full of pacifist; it was rare that someone went to Red Fountain. Nathaniel was one of the first.

Nathaniel lived on Yen with his sister, Anne, his mother, Marianna, and his father, Alexander. As it turned out, Nathaniel was part of the Royal family. It was thought that he may have started a revolution of young adults going to Red Fountain.

Nathaniel's father wasn't exactly thrilled with Nathaniel's decision to go to Red Fountain. He want his son to be a pacifist like he was, but it was evident that Nathaniel wanted something different. Nathaniel never really wanted to follow in his families footsteps. He wanted to be who he was, and it just so happened that he was a fighter. His father, being peaceful and all, didn't want to make a large deal about how disappointed he was in Nathaniel. He just decided to go with the flow.

In fact, Nathaniel's father had accepted his son's decision so much that he even had bought Nathaniel a new silver phantoblade. He also gave Nathaniel a custom made full body shield with the symbol of Yen on it, mostly to remind him who he was. Nathaniel never forgot though. He knew what he was fighting for and who. He knew his place.

Nathaniel received his papers and pamphlet. He thanked the young teacher as he headed towards the school that had been his home for the past four years.

Behind Nathaniel was Jacob James D'Antonio. Jacob, or Jake as he was known to his friends, was a rising junior. The seventeen year old had been going to Red Fountain since he was fifteen. Jake was born on the planet Mitus. Mitus was a planet of witches and warlocks; it was thought that Mitus was an evil planet destined to take over the Magic Universe. At first, Jake didn't believe any of it, he thought his planet was just misunderstood. Unfortunately, Jake understood that there truly were pure evil people in the world.

Jake use to live with his older sister and father. His mother had died when he was younger. In Jake's opinion, her death was a domino effect. Soon, Jake's father began to not come home from work until late at night, and when he did come home early he was so drunk he couldn't tell his two children from each other. His younger sister by one year, Francesca, began to visibly change. Her wardrobe, her attitude, even her voice changed into a dark and evil tone. Jake always just assumed it was the people she hung out with. People who he didn't approve of at all. Her friends liked to hurt and bully other kids, in more ways than one. They also liked to inflict pain on themselves. They found it a way to take control of their lives. Jake guessed that's what Francesca wanted to do. All her life, she had no control over anything; this was her way of taking control. For a while, Jake assumed that this was just a phase in growing up for his sister, but after a couple of years, he discovered he was wrong. Dead wrong.

The seventeen year old eventually tried to change his sister back, failing miserly. When he ran out of ideas, he just decided to forbid her from seeing her friends. Francesca didn't like that. That night, when he went to sleep, he was almost killed. Jake had managed to block the memory from his mind and manage just to look to the future. Whenever that happened, Jake quickly moved to his Uncles, a stern man but not someone who'd kill him. In fact, it was thanks to his Uncle that he was able to go to Red Fountain.

A couple of people behind Jake was Jared Tyreen. Jared was planning on changing his surname to Jadenson now that he was going to Red Fountain. The seventeen year old was slightly old for a freshman, but it took quite a bit of lying to get to where he was now. His parent's had no idea he had come to Red Fountain. They assumed he was continuing to go to his old school, but Jared just couldn't do that. Jared had convinced his mom that he had to go to Red Fountain; there was really only one reason why he wanted to go though. Alyx. Jared had met Alyx when he turned eleven; she was the only person who treated him like a person instead of a prince.

That's why when Alyx went to Alfea, he knew he had to follow her and go to Red Fountain. He, of course, knew that his father would never be okay with Jared attending Red Fountain, but he thought maybe his mother would understand, and she did. Jared was part of the Royal Family of Tyrren. Jared lived on Tyrren with his mother, his father, and his younger sister, Jennifer, and his younger brother, Alexander. His brother was in the same situation as his mother, but his sister only knew that he was at Red Fountain, not that her father didn't know.

Jared was a wizard, to throw that into the list of complicated things about his life. He had the ability to control air, he knew that this school wouldn't help him with that skill, but he'd hope that he would meet a few wizards along the way. In a way, Jared was really just winging his life. Jared stepped up to receive his squad and room number. Squad 2702, Dorm 92 Floor 13.


	5. Chapter 5

_**Chapter Four**_

_**Bitter Sweet Reunion **_

Lyra sighed as she continued to watch the thick drops of rain fall from the sky. She was staring out of the large floor to ceiling window in the forum of the fourth floor of Alfea. It had been raining for the past week and Lyra could already see the thick puddles of water forming on the ground. The teachers had made sure to inform the students that there would be no going outside until the rain cleared up.

It was finally the first day of school, something Lyra had been looking forward to all week. She was slowly making her way to her first class, having stopped only momentarily to stare out the window. Lyra forced herself to look away from the rain and continue towards the classroom. When she arrived, the first thing she noticed was how small the class was. There were only sixteen girls in the class. Lyra quietly took a seat in the back of the classroom, in an attempt to hide herself from the rest of the class. She looked around the room quickly for any familiar faces, and smiled when she caught sight of Riley, the girl who had helped her out on the first day of school.

Just as Lyra was rising to meet Riley, the bell rang, signaling the beginning of class. The teacher stepped into the classroom with a warm smile on her face. The teacher was young, about twenty two, and was about five foot four. She had sapphire blue eyes and short brown hair. "Hello," She greeted the class still smiling her warm welcoming smile, "My name is Christina Moore. You guys can call me Ms. Moore or Ms. Christina. Welcome to Advance Dual Enrollment of Magic Defense. Just to let you kids know, this will be a difficult class, please, keep up with the homework and study. I'm sure you'll all do great." She continued and Lyra could already tell this was going to be her favorite class.

"Since it's the first day of school, I thought we'd get to know each other with a little Magical game." Lyra internally groaned. A game meant talking. Talking meant people finding out she was mute. People finding out she was mute meant all eyes being on her, and Lyra hated being the center of attention. "First, I'm going to number you. Remember if you're a one, or a two." She told the class as she began going down the rows numbering people. Lyra was a two, and secretly she had been listening to find out if Riley was a two, which she was. "Okay now one's on the right side of the classroom and two's on the left."

The class slowly moved to where they were meant to go. "Now, this is a game called Pink Lightning." Ms. Moore smiled at the class. "The best part of this game is the fact that for those of you who have yet to unlock your Winx can still play. I want everyone to form two straight vertical lines." The students did as they were told, though the lines were very sloppy. Ms. Moore next twisted her hands together in a circle like shape and a bright pink ball appeared in her hands.

The students cooed over the ball as Ms. Moore smiled. "The point of this game is to keep the Pink Lightning alive. You have to believe in your teammates and yourself in order for this to work." She smiled as she tossed the ball of energy from one hand to another. "Toss the Pink Lightning to the other team and hope that they drop it." She instructed and the two teams looked challengingly at each other. "Ready? Begin!" Ms. Moore called and tossed the ball to Kristina Reeds. The ball almost immediately dulled in color and began to grow smaller.

"Just throw it to the other team!" Sam Quinn, one of the students on her team, told her. Kristina hastily did as she was told and threw the ball to another student. The girl quickly threw it to Pay June, who juggled the now vibrantly pink ball in her hands before tossing it to a different girl.

The game continued like this for a while until the ball was thrown to Lyra. Lyra saw the ball coming, but wasn't quite prepared. She managed to capture the ball in a loose grip until it slipped from her finger tips and disappeared. Lyra slumped over in disappointment while the other team cheered in victory. Lyra could feel the intense stares of her teammates burning a hole into the back of her head. She forced herself not to look at them, but instead, turn to Riley. _Glad to see you again. _She signed despite the eerie feeling of being watched.

Riley smiled widely. "It feels like it's been forever since I've seen you Lyra!" Riley told her before glancing around at the other girls in her group. "Uh, what are your names?" She asked slightly weary after seeing the girl's intense glares. The eight girls began to form a sloppy half circle and most of them dropped the stares and glares.

"I'm Pay, Pay June." The curly red head girl introduced herself having been the first to recover from her disappointment of not winning. They continued around the circle, each introducing themselves shyly until the awkward introductions were over.

The awkward stares and smiles were killing Kristina, who chose to look away from the rest of the group with her arms crossed. The long awkward moment would have most likely continued if not for the loud ringing alarm that suddenly went off followed with a bright red flashing light. Utter chaos broke out into the room after that moment. The girls in the class began to panic, unsure of what the alarm was for. "Girls!" Ms. Moore scolded, "I need you to all calm down. I will do a transport spell to the Safe Spot. Everyone _calm down._" She yelled, raising her voice to a level that brought all the students to a halt. "_Ianuae Magicae schola Heroas!" _The teacher chanted and Kristina could feel the floor spinning and the room disappearing from around her. She tried to ignore the stabbing pain in her stomach as they continued to move at a fast speed towards who knows where.

Kristina sighed in relief when the spinning and the moving was over. She felts slightly dizzy as she attempted to stand, but almost immediately fell to the ground. She looked around to find hundreds of young fairies sitting on the ground or laying. She sat up slowly this time and came face to face with the members of her team. "What just happened? And where the hell are we?" She asked rubbing the large bump on her head.

"We're at Red Fountain!" Harmony squealed excitedly looking at the school for future heroes.

"But why? What was up with the loud alarm?" Alyx asked confused while she stood up and brushed the dirt and grass off her pants.

"That was the emergency alarm. It means someone was in the building who wasn't supposed to be." Ms. Moore's voice came, spooking half the girls. She smiled at them. "You can explore the campus of Red Fountain, or you can stay here. It's really up to you."

The eight girls looked to one another and shrugged as they began walking towards the largest building. Illeana stared in wonder at the large floating school. "So, um, how do we get up there?" Illeana asked honestly confused. Sam shrugged.

"You could take the elevator." A new voice came surprising the girls. They turned to find a group of twelve specialists behind them. "I'm Daniel Dragon, and this, is Squad 7202." He explained with a charming smile. "This is Tobe, Logan, Damian, Nathaniel, Cameron, Alexander, not to be confused with Alex, Jacob, Jared, Raiden, and Axel." He introduced the Squad, gesturing to the person that he was talking about.

"I'm Sam." Samantha introduced herself, "and this is Illeana, Pay, Lyra, Riley, Al-"

"Alyx!" Jared interrupted smiling like an idiot. "I didn't think I'd see you for a while!"

"Jared?! I thought you weren't going to Red Fountain!" Alyx giggled, overjoyed to see her long time friend.

"Yeah well, you know." He shrugged, unable to come up with a valid excuse.

Samantha cleared her throat. "Anyway, like I was saying. This is Alyx, Harmony, and Kr-"

"Kristina." Logan smirked and crossed his arms over his chest. Kristina huffed, also crossing her arms.

Samantha threw her arms in the air. "Can I finish?!" Logan's eyes widened and he held up his hands as if surrendering.

"And this is Kristina." Sam finished satisfied with herself.

"So, uh, how do you two know each other?" Daniel asked Logan who was still smirking at Kristina.

"Oh me and Kristina? We go _way _back." He told the others and Kristina rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"He's my brother." She explained simply, choosing to leave it at that. A couple of eyebrows went up, but they weren't really all the surprised.

"I could have guessed that. You guys kind of look alike." Illeana commented, but almost immediately regretted it.

"We don't look anything alike!" The two siblings exclaimed in unison.

"And you act alike." Jared observed with a cocky smile.

"The only reason why we even look _related _is because we're twins." Kristina told the others then quickly changed the subject. "So does anyone even know why the alarms went off?"

Alyx scratched the back of her head. "No idea, but I defiantly want to know why." She sighed looking slightly down casted that no one knew what was going on.

"Well, we do know that there was someone in the building, the question is, who?" Harmony offered when no one had any ideas.

"You know, they've been flipping out for a while because of the girl, Claire Knightly. Her death made everyone all jumpy." Daniel shrugged trying to think back to what else he had read about the case.

_**~ Soarix ~**_

William Moore grinned as he delivered the note to the Head Master's office. He calmly walked out of the office and off of the campus and that's when he heard the alarms sound and a panic begin to arise inside. In a way, he was disappointed that he didn't look at the note while he had the chance, but at the same time he was relieved that he didn't. The last thing he needed was to be in trouble with _him_. Honestly, for a while William was convinced he was the most evil person out there, but boy was he wrong. He had no idea there were people like _him_ out there. Not to mention the people that had become his team. Quite frankly, he was disappointed in himself for being so weak and spineless. That's why he agreed to work under _him_. He needed to learn how to do what _he _was able to accomplish every day. William came across the final turn before his destination and found himself pondering the idea of what he was supposed to do next. It honestly filled his stomach with joy of what he was about to do.

As he came upon his victim he slowly approached her, making sure that she couldn't hear his heavy footsteps. As he stood less than inches away from her, he hesitated. Was he making the right decision? He shrugged off the uncertainty as he darted his arm around her waist and covered her mouth with his hand. She struggled slightly, but was of now comparison to his strength. He dragged her around the corner of the alley and whispered softly in her ear, making her shiver. "It's been awhile dear. Sorry this reunion will be short."


	6. Chapter 6

_**Chapter Five**_

_**Around the Darkest of Corners**_

Leander sat in the back booth of the new, but popular, restaurant The Mysterious Ring. He checked over his menu once more before glancing at the clock on the wall for what must have been the hundredth time. He sighed and placed down his menu, pulling out his phone once more and dialing a familiar number.

His call was sent strait to voice mail though_. "Hi, you've reached Christina Moore; I can't reach the phone right now, so please leave a message after the beep. Thanks!"_ Leander didn't even wait for the beep before slamming his phone shut.

That was the fifth time he had called in the past hour. Leander always tried to keep a leveled head, and most of the time, he did a pretty decent job of doing it, but now he had to admit, he was starting to panic. In the two years that Leander had known Christina, he knew one thing for sure, Christina hated it when people were late. She would go on and on about how the teenagers that she taught were always late and they didn't even care. When Leander began dating Christina, he made sue to never be late to one of their dates. That's why Leander was so concerned when Christina had even been ten minutes late. Leander sat still for a moment, wondering what he should do. He bounced between the thought of Christina possibly just forgetting and the idea that maybe Christina was just held up at Alfea. Neither of the two ideas seemed to be very likely though. If Christina had been held up at teaching, she would take a moment to call Leander and inform him. If Christina had forgotten, she surely would have answered one of his numerous calls by now. Leander sighed, coming to the only logical conclusion that something bad happened to Christina.

Leander tried to remain calm as he dialed a different number. It rang twice before the owner picked up. _"Hello?"_

"Andrew?" Leander asked, working hard to keep the concern out of his voice, unfortunately, Andrew could tell when something was wrong almost immediately.

_"Leander? What's wrong? I thought you had a date with Christina."_ He spoke quickly, his voice growing stronger as he continued.

"So did I." Leander muttered distantly. "Now Andrew, I don't want you to freak out," he started, knowing the older teacher all to well. "But Christina still hasn't shown and she's not answering her phone."

Leander waited for Andrew to answer, but it sounded almost as if the line had gone dead. "Andrew?"

_"Are you sure you're in the right café?"_ Andrew asked as a weak gesture, looking for some sign of hope.

Leander sighed, shutting his eyes tightly. "I'm positive Andrew. I was actually wondering if you'd seen her. Is it possible that she could still be working?"

There was silence for a while then, _"No. No, I'm afraid that's impossible. There was an intruder in Alfea today; all the students and teachers are at Red Fountain right now. Christina left about an hour ago. She said she was going to see you."_

"An intruder?" Leander asked taken back. "Is everyone alright?"

_"Everyone's fine. All staff and students have been accounted for Leander. We're just waiting for the all clear sign. You know how ridiculous the new rules are." _

Leander leaned back in his chair taking a couple of deep breaths. "Okay. Thanks Andrew."

_"Wait! I want to help you look for her. Let me just get together a group of fairies and Specialists who can help."_

Leander shook his head even though Andrew couldn't see the gesture. "I don't think that' such a good idea. Are you sure you want to drag students into this?"

Andrew's reply was quick. _"We don't even know what this is. It could be nothing." _

Leander held his breath for a minute. "You're right Andrew. I'll call you if I find anything. Bye." Leander snapped his phone shut and shoved it with unnecessary force into his pocket.

An eerily familiar blonde girl appeared at the end of his table. "Hello sir!" She greeted merrily and the sound of her childlike voice sent shivers down Leander's spine. "My name is Dawn and I'm your waitress, how may I take your order?"

Leander sat there stupidly for a moment, starring at this girl in shock. Then it hit him. This was the girl who was in the alley that day. This was the evil girl who had eyes ready to kill.

"Um, actually, I was just leaving." Leander excused himself wearily. He stood up and pulled his wallet out of his back pocket, never taking his eyes off Dawn. He took out a ten dollar bill and placed it on the table before slowly backing away and out the door.

Leander shook the haunting picture of the girl out of his head. He would think about that later, for now, he just wanted to focus on finding Christina. He walked with determination down the street, avoiding people but also searching for his girlfriend.

_**~ Soarix ~**_

"So, you're giving us permission to go explore the city?" Kristina asked with a mischievous smirk on her face. Pay rolled her eyes at the girl's immaturity.

"He's asking us to go look for a teacher Kristina, something we should take seriously."

Kristina shrugged ignoring Pay's comment almost completely. "We'd be happy to help." Sam stepped forward, throwing dirty looks at Kristina and Pay.

"Oh, thank you so much!" Mr. Witley praised the group of teens while wiping the beads of sweat from his forehead. "This is my number; please call me if you find her." He said, giving the fairies and specialists his number before running off.

"Well, this is the weirdest first day of school I've ever had." Riley muttered, shaking her head.

"I know right and I thought going back to school meant hours of boredom." Tobe sighed and looked at the others. "So do you guys want to make search groups?"

The others nodded their heads and began to form groups. Kristina, Alyx, Daniel, Damian, and Tobe made one group. Lyra, Riley, Alexander, Axel, and Nathaniel made the second one. Pay, Sam, Logan, Jared, and Cameron made the third. In the last group, there was Illeana, Harmony, Alex, Raiden, and Jacob made the last group.

"So we'll split up then call each other if we find something?" Pay asked to clarify and Daniel nodded.

"Just, no one do anything stupid, all right?" Daniel joked but the serious expression on his face showed that it might have been more than just a joke.

Everyone grumbled a response before the four groups went off in their separate ways.

Kristina led her group down an alley way, taking twists and turns every few second. "Maybe we should slow down." Alyx suggested, struggling to keep up with the others. Kristina came to a stop and turned around to face the older fairy.

"Are you kidding? Did you even go to the freshmen orientation? This might be the one and only time we're allowed off campus! We have to take advantage of it!"

Alyx was barely listening to her though. Instead, she was looking around at the dark alleyway they were currently standing in. Alyx tuned Kristina out as she began to stare at a large black form that stood in the back of the corner. Alyx narrowed her eyes and watched as the figure grew into two figures and the creatures began to slowly advance.

"Guys, what are those?" Alyx asked pointing a shaky finger towards the two creeping shapes.

Kristina turned and her facial expression changed from rebellious to terrified. She slowly backed away, seeing how she was the closest to the two animals. The five teenagers ran to the middle of the alley, the only spot that has some light.

Daniel looked around carefully trying to find the black furred animals. "I think they're gone." Daniel stated confused.

"Or maybe," Damian supposed thoughtfully, "They just don't like sunlight."

"What were they?" Tobe asked his hands on his head with a confused look plastered on his face.

"Who cares? The way they looked at me made me feel like they were going to eat me or something." Kristina shuttered, trying to repress the glares of the animals.

"Well, whatever it is, it can't get us in the sunlight." Daniel reasoned, standing up strait.

"I hate to be the pessimistic of the group, but if we want to get back to Alfea, or keep looking we have to get out of this alleyway, and in order to do that we have to go back into the shadows." Alyx pointed out staying in the middle of the patch of sunlight.

"Well, we can't stay here forever guys." Tobe said when no one moved or replied. He took a deep breath and bravely took the first step into the shadows, nodding for the others to follow him.

The group of five stepped into the shade, carefully looking around for the dark figures. It seemed to have disappeared from sight, leaving nothing but cold dead silence. No one dared speak in fear that if they even mutter a word, the figures would reappear and attack. Kristina knew at that point that this was an awful idea. Five students searching for a missing teacher after being evacuated from the 'safest school in the Magic Dimension'. It was a stupid thought really. Why would they be able to find her?

A low growl cam from behind the group of students. Alyx could feel her bones begin to shake with fear, goose bumps ran up her legs and arms as her eyes widened in fear. One of the animals, which Alyx could now identify as a large black wolf, circled around the five teenagers while the other stood in front of Kristina growling and snapping at her. Alyx looked at Kristina's stone face and knew immediately Kristina was much more scared than she was willing to let on.

This was it for Alyx. She was done for, gone, dead. "On three we run, okay?" Came a low hiss from Daniel. "One." Alyx filled her lungs with a hefty amount of air and held it. "Two." Alyx reached out from the darkness searching for a hand to grab. She found Kristina's. "Three!"

Alyx took off running with Kristina in tow. She ran out of the alley and across the street. She ran as fast as she could. She ran even as her lungs burned and her legs ached, she continued to run. By the time she stopped, Kristina was grasping from breath behind her, her face paler then a sheet.

"What are you trying to do?" She gasped between her short raspy breaths. "Kill me?" Alyx couldn't even stop panting long enough to answer the younger girl.

Three more faces rounded the corner, also struggling to catch their breaths. "You should be on the track team." Damian commended, still taking shallow breaths. When Alyx finally caught her breath, she smiled sheepishly.

"Sorry. I guess my instincts just kind of took over." She told them and Kristina finally straitened up.

"Yeah? Well, next time, dag someone else with you."

Tobe shook his head, clearing the fogginess and confusion that had been clouding it. "What do you think that was?" He asked still dazed, looking around for any more suspicious characters.

"I don't know." Daniel answered, "And I don't want to find out, we should head back to Red Fountain. We can call the others and meet up with them there." He squinted, his voice slightly concerned.

The boys began to turn around, Daniel putting his hand on Kristina's shoulder when he saw she wasn't moving. "But what about Ms. Moore?" Kristina protested, shrugging off the boy when he attempted to usher her back to Red Fountain. "We can't just stop looking." She continued crossing her arms over her chest.

"It's out of our hands now." Damian stated tiredly,

"It's just too dangerous and pointless." Tobe echoed.

Alyx mimicked Kristina's poster. "I agree with Kristina." She stated simply, as if that was the end of the discussion.

"We can't stay here! You saw those things! Obviously they want something from us." Daniel shouted, trying to convince the two girls to come back with them.

The fairies stood their ground, although they both looked slightly shaken from the mention of the two beasts. They glared evenly at the heroes. Daniel let out a disappointed sigh. "Fine." He grumbled, his eyes shut tightly. "You want to be eaten by those things. Go ahead."

Kristina bit her lower lip, weighing the pros and cons in her head. She rolled her eyes, but relaxed her posture, signaling that she gave up. "Whatever." She muttered and the five teens headed back to Red Fountain.

_**~ Soarix ~**_

Leander continued to search the streets of Magix for his lost girlfriend, growing whiter with worry every street corner he turned down. He was never one to lie to himself, he knew perfectly well that this was a serious and possible deadly situation. He sighed bitterly, wishing more than anything Christina's phone was just dead. He rounded the next corner and the air was sucked from his lungs.

_**~ Soarix ~**_

Pay waited, leaning against the brick wall behind her as Jared made a call. Sam stood next to her, looking wearily at the people surrounding them. "All these people are seriously getting on my nerves." She commented sounding seriously annoyed.

Pay did her best to muffle her laugh. "Why?"

"I don't know." Sam growled. "They just are."

Logan wandered over to them, sticking his hands in his pockets as he stood casually next to Sam. "This is getting boring." He commented as he seemed to struggle to keep awake. Sam gave him a sideward glance but Pay paid no attention to him for her eyes were fixed on a man across the street with a large black wolf.

"Hey guys," She started narrowing her eyes in suspicion, "Does he look familiar?"

Cameron followed her glaze across the street. "Yeah." He started confused. "He does."

Logan rolled his eyes. "I've never seen him before."

"Yeah well, you're not exactly the most observant person." Jared commented, spooking the four teens as he came around the corner.

"What did Daniel say?" Pay asked, pushing herself off the brick wall, looking strait past Jared and at the man still.

"He and the rest of his group are heading back to Red Fountain, something about some animals attacking them."

Sam shrugged, "Well, we should keep looking."

Logan nodded in agreement and started to cross the street, gesturing for the others to follow him. "And I know just where to look." Logan smiled mischievously and Cameron rolled his eyes.

"Five bucks say we get lost." He whispered to Sam and she thought for a moment.

"You're on."

Logan led the group of fairies and specialists downtown, taking a couple of twist and turns before arriving in front of a small shop.

"What is this place?" Cameron asked looking wearily at the creepy outside of the store.

Logan smiled and held up a flyer. "Some kid handed me this when I was out with my older brother. I think that we should give it a try."

Sam snatched the flyer from the brunette boy and read, "Madame Gina knows and sees all. Come see the most famous and respected fortune-teller in all of Magix."

Sam worked hard not to struggle the grinning specialist in front of her. "Really? A fortune-teller?!"

"Do you have any better ideas?" When no one responded, he grew a smirk and opened the front door and a small bell chimed. The rest of the group hesitantly stepped in, Pay taking despairingly looks around.

"This place gives me the creeps." She shuddered with a look of discomfort on her face.

"Welcome! "A woman called from behind them and everyone spun around. "I'm so glad you could make it, but I knew you could for I see and know all." The woman smiled and the entire group took a step back except Logan.

"Are you Madame Gina?" Logan asked and the woman nodded. Logan grinned, "Could you tell us our futures?!" He asked excitedly, forgetting why they were there.

"Of course!" Madame Gina screeched and smiled a crooked smile. "Place take a seat on the couch!"

Logan sat on one end with Cameron next to him, then Jared, Sam, and Pay sitting on the other end.

"Give me your palm." Madame Gina commanded and Logan obliged. "Hm. Oh I see." She muttered and Logan sat there, trying his best to be patient. "You and a sibling will have a huge fight and then not speak to each other for a long time, but then, when the sibling needs you, you will be there for them." Madame Gina predicted and Logan rolled his eyes and slumped into the couch.

"I could have predicted that." He muttered and closed his hand.

Madame Gina moved on to Cameron. She took his palm into her hands and smiled almost immediantly. "You, young man, will find your true love in the oddest of places. Keep your eyes and your mind open." Cameron smirked to Logan who returned the face, still annoyed. Madame Gina then turned to Jared. She read his palm quicker then she had read the other two before making a 'tisk' sound at him. "You need to tell her the truth, or you will loose her forever." She told him and Jared looked petrified. The others eyed him carefully before letting it go.

She turned to Sam and asked for her palm, annoyed and wearily, Sam stuck out her head to allow the gypsy to read. Madame Gina took a moment before gasping surprised. "Your anger is going to cause one of your friends their lives if you don't keep it in check." She told the girl and Sam scoffed, but she couldn't help but feel that it was true in some ways.

Lastly, Madame Gina came to Pay, Pay smiled sweetly before gently placing her palm in the hand of Madame Gina. The fortune teller studied it for a moment before a look of pure horror came to her face. She threw Pay's hand back at her and backed away from the young fairy. "All of you get out of my store." She yelled and when no one moved from shock, she screamed again. "Now!" The five teens scrambled off the couch and away to the door, Logan reached it first and pulled it open, and the search party ran out. Madame Gina came to the door and locked it, glaring at the teens the entire time. She switched the sign on the door to close and backed away slowly.

The teens stood in silence for a while, each deep in thought. "What in the world could have been so bad in my future that she would kick us all out? Pay asked, looking truly confused and slightly hurt.

Sam shrugged. "It doesn't matter," She scoffed, beginning to walk down the street, "All fortune tellers are bogus anyway." The others followed in suit and no one said anything for a while until someone's phone dinged.

Logan pulled out his phone and stopped in his tracks. "Hey guys," He started and the others turned to look at him. "Kristina and the others want us to come back the Red Fountain and head up to our squad's dorm."

Jared shrugged. "Well, let's go then."

_**~ Soarix ~**_

Leander pulled out his phone and dialed the only number he could think of. It didn't even ring once before Andrew picked up. "Leander? Did you find her?" Andrew asked, practically shouting into the phone.

Leander swallowed the lump in his throat, trying to speak.

"Yes." He whispered, "I did."


	7. Chapter 7

_**Chapter Six**_

_**Conclusions**_

"But it wouldn't attack you in the sunlight?" Illeana clarified shaking her head confused. Kristina shrugged and nodded.

"Pretty much. Once we were in the sunlight, they just kind of disappeared. I didn't really give much thought to why, I'm just glad they did." She told the group sitting down on the arm of the red couch next to Logan.

"You know, now that I think of it, I'm not sure they actually wanted to hurt us." Alyx admitted leaning forward to rest her chin on her hand.

"What? Did you see the way those things looked at us. I seriously thought we were going to be dog food." Tobe retorted quickly, still shuttering at the thought of the large wolves.

"I'm not so sure." Alyx answered, pushing herself off the loveseat she was sharing with Jared. "I mean, really it was only interested in Kristina. It seemed like it wanted her, or like to tell her something."

_Well, we found this while we were out. _Lyra signed quickly and held up a ripped up piece of paper. Sam narrowed her eyes and walked over to the girl. She took the scroll for her hand and shrugged.

"So? It's just a piece of some random poem." She said shaking her head. Lyra sighed and turned to Riley.

_Tell these idiots that it's what's on the piece of paper that matters. I think it's some kind of prophecy, and tell them that we found it in front of the Mysterious Ring. _She signed and Riley nodded.

"Lyra said that she thinks the poems part of an important prophecy, and we found in front of the Mysterious Ring, the café where Ms. Moore and her boyfriend were suppose to meet." Riley translated and a look of realization dawned on the rest of the group.

"Wait, what does the piece of paper say?" Alex asked, looking over at Sam.

"I can't read the first word because it's ripped, but the rest of it says, Challenge the all mighty shadow, Will find themselves standing in sorrow, And will bow willingly to the dark sky And those who once questioned will die. As the sky falls, so will the fairies, one by one, until there are none – That's it. It ends there." Sam sighed and threw the torn paper on the couch next to Axel.

Axel picked up the piece of paper. "So? We don't even know if this has to do with anything, and if it's even a prophecy." He reasoned passing the paper to Logan.

"I don't know guys. It sounded pretty prophecy like to me." Harmony sighed, taking the paper from Logan's hands. "Challenge the all mighty shadow? What could that mean?" She asked, deeply studying the piece of paper.

"Maybe shadow is like, evil or something." Cameron suggested.

"That would make sense; I mean it talks about fairies dying, so maybe it's predicting the end of the world." Alexander commented.

"But that's not the whole thing, how can we even tell if we should be worried, if we don't even have the entire prophecy?" Sam asked throwing her hands into the air.

"I have to agree with Sam, I mean, there's no point in worrying over something that we have no idea if it even has anything to do with that." Pay told the group and switched the topic before anyone could argue. "What did you say the animals the attacked you liked like again?" She asked.

Daniel gulped before describing the creature. "It was huge and black, it looked more like a wolf then a dog in my opinion and it looked evil."

"And hungry." Damien added under his breath to himself.

Logan made a face. "That's weird." He commented off-handily. "Sounds a lot like the thing that was with that man that everyone thought looked so familiar." He connected and Cameron's faced twisted into an unreadable expression.

"You know, now that you mention it, it does."

"Okay, this is all getting a little too creepy for my taste." Harmony said, shaking her head.

Kristina rolled her eyes. "What happened with the dog and the man?" She asked focusing all her attention on the others and trying to ignore the bad feeling that was filling her stomach up.

Sam shook her head. "Nothing. We just kind of left and went to a fortune teller." She shot a glare at Logan who looked away innocently.

"You did? I've always wanted to go to one of those! What was it like?" Riley asked excitedly and Pay shifted uncomfortably.

"Trust me. You defiantly don't want to go to one." Pay told her looking away from the group.

Lyra looked at her slightly bemused. _Why? What happened? _She signed and Riley immediately translated. "Lyra wants to know what happened."

Pay made a face and sighed. "Fortune tellers are just jerks, okay? Let's leave it at that."

Sam laughed along with Cameron and Jared. "She's just upset because the fortune teller saw something bad in her future." Sam told the group and Alyx raised an eyebrow.

"What she see?" Alyx asked and Pay threw her hands in the air annoyed.

"I don't know!" She yelled. "She won't even tell me, she just kicked us out of her shop." Pay grumbled and began to sulk.

"Guys, that's really creepy." Harmony commented shaking.

Sam rolled her eyes. "Not really."

"Um, yeah it is! Who knows what she could have seen in Pay's future!"

Sam laughed at the girl. "You're so gullible, I'm sure that it was just some charade."

"Yeah, that's what people always say in the movies right before someone dies."

Sam smirked. "Wow. You seriously believe in that junk?"

Harmony steamed and glowered at the girl. "I'm going for a walk." She huffed and stood up from the red armchair she had been sitting in and stormed out of the dorm.

Kristina smirked, actually looking slightly impressed. "Nice job. You sure do know how to clear a room."

Sam gave a low and sarcastic laugh. "Why don't you shut up?"

Kristina shrugged her smirk still firmly in place.

_**~ Soarix ~**_

Leander sat bedside to Christina, his hand gripping tightly around hers. Christina laid still and white, almost as if all the blood had been drained from her body. Leander felt sick as he helplessly stroked her hand, tears pricking his eyes. He was breathing heavily, licking his dry lips every few seconds.

Andrew paced back and forth anxiously in front of Christina. His eyes were fixed on the floor and his hands were clasped behind his back. He couldn't even bring himself to look at his unconscious colleague. He took shallow breaths and couldn't help but remember the first time he had meet Christina in her freshmen year. He knew immediately that she was going to be a bright leader one day and that she would make an excellent fairy.

_Andrew had his back turned to his class as he wrote his name on the blackboard. He took his time and noticed how oddly silent the freshmen class behind him was. It was rare that he could even get them to shut their mouths. He decided to savor the moment, knowing by this time next week the class would be as noisy as ever. _

_He turned to face the class and immediately noticed one of the seats was empty. He frowned in disapproval. This was the first day of school, if this young girl didn't bother to show up to class on time today, he could only imagine how big of a distraction she would be later on. _

_He check over his roster searching for the name of the missing fairy when the door of the classroom was abruptly opened and a breathless girl rushed in, her checks flushed and her blue eyes wide in fear. "I'm so sorry Mr. Witley!" She apologized shakily and Andrew simply raised an eyebrow. He gestured for her to take her seat, which she did with embarrassment. _

_The rest of the period continued without a hitch, Christina was well-behaved and completely focused on Andrew's lecture. When the bell rang, she along with the rest of the class gathered their things and prepared to leave. _

"_Miss Moore, please stay after." He asked politely and a couple of the other students snickered. Christina's face once again flushed with embarrassment, but she set her bag down and took a seat in the front of the class. _

_After the rest of the class had filed out, he circled around to the front of his desk and leaned against it in an almost intimating manner. Christina remained upright and sat with uneasiness. _

"_Now Miss Moore," Andrew started, his tone was light but his words were not, "I would like to know why you thought you were so special you could be late to my class." _

_Christina then looked down ashamed. "I-I couldn't find your classroom sir." She answered honestly. Her hand folded on the desk. _

"_Hm," He answered. "None of the other students had any trouble finding my class." He told her, his eyes almost burning a hole into her head. _

"_I-I'm sorry s-sir." She apologized once more still not daring to bring her head up. _

"_Christina," He started, addressing her by her first name for once, "I can't teach you anything if you don't want to be taught anything." _

_She finally raised her head and sighed. "I'm do want to learn sir. I really do." _

_Andrew looked at her, eyebrows raised. Her answer was so sincere he was taken back. "Well than Miss Moore, I suggest to you that you show up on time then." _

_Christina nodded and Andrew dismissed her. _

_She was never late again. _

Andrew shook his head, wiping the sweat from his face. He couldn't believe that was only seven years ago. It felt like a life time. He had watched her grow up and blossom into a bright young adult. And while he'd never admit it to anyone, she had always been and still is his favorite student. Andrew finally allowed himself to look at her in the hospital bed. He regretted it almost immediately.

He sunk into the nearest chair, his head in his hands.

Finally, the doctor entered the small white room with a grim look on his face. "I don't wish to alarm you, but we are going to need some time to run a couple of test. I'll need to leave in about twenty minutes." His voice was kind, but his face was tight, trying to conceal any emotion.

Andrew lifted his head and sighed. "When can we return?" He asked solemnly.

The doctor's face contorted before returning to its emotionless state. "I don't know Mr. Witley. Ms. Moore is in a, dire state at this point. I'm afraid she may have been lying in that alley for hours. We don't know the full extent of her condition yet."

Andrew nodded miserably. The doctor looked conflicted as whether or not to comfort the man or simply take his leave. After fidgeting back and forth awkwardly for a while, he finally withdrew himself from the room, leaving Leander and Andrew in silence once more.

There was a lapse of time before Leander spoke for the first time since they had found her. "I was going to propose." He whispered and Andrew immediately looked up.

"What?" He asked quietly astounded.

"I was going to propose in the café." Leander spoke a little bit louder and finally looked at Andrew. Andrew could see how sunken in his face was and puffy his eyes were.

"L-Leander." Andrew breathed and shook his head, biting his lower lip. Leander's eyes welled up in tears.

"I love her." He told the older man with the same sincerity Christina had used seven years ago. The tears in his eyes spilt over, running down his face. It was the first time Andrew had ever seen Leander cry.

"Leander, she's not dead. She will live and you two," He swallowed back his own tears and the lump in his throat. "You two will have happily ever after. I promise you." Leander stared blankly at his former mentor before looking back at Christina. Andrew closed his eyes, hoping he was right.

_**~ Soarix ~**_

"You are an idiot!" _He _yelled in William's face. William stood still. His chin held high and his arms crossed defensively across his chest. "I told you to bring the pixie here! Not to severely injure her then leave her for dead."

William shrugged nonchalantly. "I was simply bringing her to you, my Lord." He told _him _his voice dipping in venom when he was forced to hiss 'my Lord'. "It was my dear sister that began the fight. I was simply acting in self-defense."

_He _hissed was more and struck William across the face, leaving the twenty-eight year old with a long cut. _He _left the room in a storm, slamming the door behind him.

"You just had to piss _him_ off didn't you Willy." Dawn remark sarcastically, rolling her eyes from where she was leaning against the doorframe.

William wiped the blood from his face before retorting, "You wouldn't understand Dawn." He smeared her name but the blonde pretended not to notice.

"Oh, I think I understand perfectly. You wanted to settle the old sibling rivalry between you and your sister. You wanted to show her who was the bigger better magical being. Isn't that right?" She asked, practically spitting in his direction.

William's jaw set, but he didn't reply. Dawn walked past him. "Well I hope it was worth it to knock off your sister and some valuable information." She hissed before settling herself at the large wall of screens.

"I didn't kill her." William mutter defensively, "just did enough damage to teach her a little lesson."

"Must have been one hell of a lesson." Lucifer commented dispassionately. He sat himself down next to Dawn, who shot him a dirty look when he did.

The door of the lair was thrown open and Cyra Gwenore and Ozar Blackwater walked in crossly. "Who the fuck is the idiot that pissed _him _off?" Cyra asked severely aggravated.

Dawn and Lucifer both shot pointed looks at William, who stood non affected.

Ozar clicked his tongue. "Why am I not surprised?" He asked rolling his eyes.

William glared at the sarcastic wizard with resentment. "Oh yeah, because I'm totally the only one whose ever done it."

Cyra ignored him and came to stand behind Dawn. "Have you found one of those little brats left alone yet?" She asked staring at the largest screen intently.

"Well, one of their roommates has been left alone, but she's not one of the three _he _told us to look for."

Cyra shrugged, not really caring. "Oh well. This should at least freak them out slightly, and the teachers should have a fit, just like they did with that Knightly girl."

She once again pushed pass William and called to Ozar. "Come on Ozar, we have a little business to take care of."

Ozar gave a sickening smile and walked swiftly over to the door. "Can we bring the wolves?" He asked excitedly but Cyra shook her head and gave a small smile.

"No. I think we're going to do this the old fashion way." She told him and his grin grew bigger.

The two left without another word.

William hurried over to the screens and stood behind Lucifer.

"Well boys," Dawn said with a nauseating smile, "Look's like we're in for a show."

_**~ Soarix ~**_

Alyx looked at her watch. "It's getting late guys. When are we going back to Alfea?"

Riley shrugged but also looked concerned. "I don't know, but Harmony's been gone for a long time."

Alexander's face scrunched up in worry. "Riley's right guys. Harmony's been gone for over an hour."

"Who cares?" Sam asked still faintly irritated. "She wanted to be a little baby and leave, she can."

Kristina nodded in concurrence. "I agree with Sam. She couldn't handle a little argument and she left. Leave her be."

_Well, I think we should go look for her. _Lyra signed and Riley translated.

Pay sighed. "I think they're right. Harmo-" She was cut off by a high pitched scream though.

Suddenly, everyone was alert. "Did that sound like-" Illeana asked and everyone joined in for the last word, "Harmony?


	8. Chapter 8

_**Chapter Seven **_

_**And the War Begins**_

Pay hurried out of Red Fountain, the others on her tail. The only thought that was running through her mind while she ran down the stair two at the time was that this wasn't her new friend. True, Pay wasn't really close to Harmony, or any of these girls for that matter, but she still felt a wave anxiety when she thought about the blood curling scream. When the group of teenagers finally reached the grounds, they stopped dead in their tracks.

"The school's grounds are huge! How the hell are we supposed to find Harmony?" Logan cursed angrily searching around for anything to punch.

"We could spilt up." Riley suggested, but looked pale at the idea of leaving the security of the group.

Daniel shook his head disagreeing. "No. I don't want to hear anyone else scream in pain, do you?"

The others quickly shook their heads and Lyra looked literally sick at the idea of it. She began to shake and Riley casted her mute friend a very concerned glance. Riley wrapped her arm around the girl and rubbed circles in her back soothingly.

In fact, the entire group of students began to be filled with a feeling of uneasiness. Illeana swallowed the thick lump in her throat and out of the corner of her eye caught two adult, clearly not teachers, walk away from the Dragon Training field. The female adult caught her eye and stared her down for a second. Illeana wanted nothing more then to turn away from the terrifying duo, but something about them put her in a trace. It wasn't until the women threw her head back and released a shrill laugh that Illeana was able to tear her eyes from the woman. "Guys, I think we should check the Dragon Training Field." She stated in a monotone voice. The others looked at her slightly surprised that she had broken the silence.

"It's about as good as any place to start." Damien shrugged his voice too deep and his hands shaking at his side.

However, no one made a move towards the field. It terrified them all. Deep inside the pit of their stomach, they knew that something was terribly wrong. They knew that what they were going to find in that field was something they didn't want to find. Alyx filled her lungs with much needed oxygen and took the first step towards the field, and that started a chain reaction, eventually everyone was moving in one large cluster towards the field.

Kristina was the first to reach to field. Immediately, when she saw Harmony's body on the ground in the center of the field, she ran to it, hoping that the fairy was simply passed out. She fell to her knees and examined the body.

Harmony's lips were a deathly blue; the oxygen was quite literally sucked from her body. Her skin was extremely pale and had a bluish tint to it. Her hair was spread out around her body. Other then that, she looked as if she was merely sleeping. Kristina hesitantly reached out and picked up her wrist to check for a pulse. She wrapped her hand around the girl's wrist and let out a horror-struck scream before scrambling away from the cold body. She now sat about five feet away from the body, one hand covering her mouth while she stared at the other, which was covered in dark red blood.

Logan appeared behind Kristina and gentle pulled her up by her forearms. He wrapped his arms around the small girl's frame, who simply stood rigid. The others had seen the entire scene and didn't dare step closer, knowing full well that their fellow student was dead. They watched mouth's a gaped as Logan walked further away from the dead body, keeping Kristina in his arms. Kristina let a couple of heart wrenching sobs, her face buried in her brother's shoulder. Jared turned Alyx away from the body, deciding that she didn't need to be tormented with nightmares of that. A couple of the specialists took a step in front of the remaining girls, blocking their view as Tobe and Daniel dared to take a step towards the body.

They didn't have to go vey far before they were squatting in front of it. Tobe hesitantly took the girls wrist in his hand, careful not to get any blood on him. He gave Daniel a grave look. "Look at the shape of the cut." He whispered huskily and Daniel swallowed his vomit before doing so.

"It's just like Claire's." He whispered so quietly, Tobe almost didn't hear him. Tobe looked once more at the S shaped bloody cut that had been carved into the poor fairy's wrist.

Lyra began to shake violently, her face turning a sickly green color. Riley swallowed back her own vomit and tried to turn Lyra away, but she refused to be moved. Her eyes were fixed on the body in front of her in a trace like way. "Lyra." Riley shook the girl. "Lyra, snap out of it!" Lyra paid no attention though.

Alyx managed to snap out of her shock enough to run for help with Jared on her tail. The others, however, were frozen in time as the simple watched their fallen comrade with quiet interest.

_**~ Soarix ~**_

Christina slowly pried her eyelids open, but immediately closed them once again to shield her delicate eyes from the blinding white light. She groaned when everything suddenly hit her at once like a ton of bricks dropping onto her body. Leander was immediately attentive. "Christina?" He whispered quietly, his voice thick with intensity. "Christina!" He yelled this time and Christina finally forced herself to open her eyes.

"Lea-Leander?" Christina whispered, pushing herself up and looking for her boyfriend with watery eyes. She threw herself at him and buried herself in his arms. She began to sob miserably as all the memories of her encounter with her brother flooded her mind. "Leander," She hiccupped between sobs, "It was William. He, he's working for _him _now." She sobbed into Leander's chest and shuttered as the encounter flashed into her mind.

"_Andrew, I'm going to the Mysterious Ring to meet up with Leander, do you mind watching my class? I wasn't anticipating this to happen." She asked Andrew with a cheeky smile and Andrew smiled, his eyes twinkling._

"_Of course Christina. Go have fun dear." Christina thanked Andrew once more and began to make her way towards the Mysterious Ring. As she walked, her mind wandered. She couldn't help but think about how strange Leander had been acting lately. It was like he was hiding something and something big for the matter. He was always sneaking off and cutting their dates short. Christina was snapped out of her thoughts when she felt a hand snake around her waist and another hand cover her mouth. _

_She snapped back to her sense and began to struggle, practically screaming for help as the mysterious man dragged her to the alley way. "It's been awhile dear. Sorry this reunion will be short." A voice whispered huskily in her ear. _

_Immediately, Christina fell still. That voice. That voice belonged to her older brother, William. The same man who she had not spoken to since she was fifteen. The same older brother who had burnt down her home and killed both her parents. Christina was frozen in fear. Was her brother here to finish off what was left of the Moore family tree?_

_Christina did that only thing that came to mind, which was elbowing her brother in the face. Just like he had during that faithful day with the flames, her released her and hissed in pain. Christina, however, wasn't prepared and fell to the ground. She scrambled away before standing up to face her older sibling. _

_He laughed, but it wasn't a real laugh. It was an inhuman cruel manic-like laugh. Christina felt a round of shivers run down her spin. "Still haven't learned any new tricks have you sis?" Christina pushed her vomit back down her throat while William laughed again. "What's wrong? Bring back bad memories?" He asked in a mocking voice that infuriated Christina._

"_Shut up." She growled quietly, her eyes shut tightly and arms holding herself together as she tried her best not to shiver. But he didn't stop. _

"_Does little Chrissie-Bug miss mommy and daddy?" He taunted and Christina closed her eyes tighter, trying to block the memories that her old nickname brought about. "What's wrong Chrissie-Bug? Are you sad all the other parents came on Parent Day but yours didn't? Are you sad you're alone in this world?"_

"_Shut-up!" Christina yelled once more shaking with memories and rage. Christina looked up at William, seeing the sneer on his face. She transformed into her fairy form narrowing her eyes at William. "You killed our parents you bastard!" She yelled then threw her first attack. A wave of bright pink energy flew at William hitting him square in the chest. He flew back at the force and laid on the ground for only a second. _

_He stood up, wiping the blood from his mouth and laughing as he stared at the crimson liquid. "You should have done that baby sister." He sneered before throwing a black ball of energy at Christina, which hit her in the stomach area. She smashed into the wall behind her and groaned as she fell to the floor. _

_She forced herself to kneel and throw another pink orb at William. Unfortunately, one which he was prepared for. He easily deflected the orb and stepped closer to Christina, who was wheezing on all fours. The dark magic had taken too much out of her. Her bent down to her level and kicked her mercilessly in the same area the black ball had hit her. She fell to her back and cried out, showing the first sign of pain yet. "What's wrong Chrissie-Bug?" He sneered in her face. "No daddy to come rescue you now, huh?" He asked and she gritted her teeth not to cry. He kicked her once more when she didn't react. "No daddy to walk you down the aisle?" He asked once more, kneeling down in front of her. He grabbed her by the hair and smashed her head into the concrete. "Come on Christina; shed a tear for your daddy." He commanded and smashed her face into the concrete again, rubbing it in the dirt. She forced herself not to cry as she pushed her brother off of her. _

"_I feel sorry for you William. Mom and Dad loved you, but you didn't let yourself feel. You didn't let them love you!" She yelled and he growled, slapping her. She knew she had hit a sore spot. He pushed her away._

"_They didn't love me!" He yelled heatedly, pacing in front of Christina. Christina tried to pick herself off the ground but she just couldn't. "Why would they? I wasn't the perfect child!" He bellowed sending a aggrieved look at Christina. _

_Christina lifted her head off the ground and tried to steady her breathing. "They did love you William. They loved you so much. You just shut everyone out. You convinced yourself that the world was against you." She told him, but her tone was not accusing, it was more of a pity. _

"_Shut-up!" He yelled and threw the black sphere at her. _

_Christina could fell herself falling, being pushed under the dark waters of unconsciousness. It was strange, she was still very aware of her surroundings. Although, strangely enough she couldn't hear anything but the rushing blood in her ears. She felt cold, very cold. It was almost as if she was in a freezer. Then it hit her. The horrible burning feeling in her stomach. It was like a fire burning a hole through her stomach. She groggily opened her eyes and waited for the fuzzy vision to clear. It didn't. She lifted her arm and felt a stabbing pain run through her entire body. She chose to ignore it though. She felt around her lower abdomen. She searched until she found a warm, sticky liquid. It covered her hand. She let her hand go limp. She saw the edges of her vision blackening. She took her last swallow of air and allowed herself to give into the darkness. _

Christina shuttered involuntarily at the memory and pushed herself farther into Leander's arm. They stayed like that for a while until her door squeaked open and Lauren and Andrew entered.

They were whispering quietly to each other until they saw that Christina was awake. "Christina!" Andrew yelled a little too vociferously. He ran to the bed and threw his arms around Christina and Leander and Christina genuinely laughed at the older man's enthusiasm.

"Andrew, we can barely breathe." Leander wheezed with a laugh and Andrew released the couple and stuffed his hands into his pocket looking like a little kid who just got in trouble.

"Not that I don't enjoy the company, but shouldn't you both be at Alfea, or Red Fountain?" Christina asked confused. "I mean, the fairies must be anxious to get back to their dorms, right?" She joked but Lauren's grave face was enough to make her smile turn into a frown. "What's wrong? What's going on?"

Lauren took a step closer to Christina and sat down at the edge of the bed. "Christina, you've been out for four days. It was, your brother, you broke into Alfea." Lauren told her, choosing each word she used carefully.

"Wha-what was he doing there?" She inquired shakily.

"He took the Justice League's scepter."

Christina tried hard to mask her shock, but failed miserably. "Bu-but why? It's of no use to him. He can't even use it."

Lauren sighed before continuing on. "I know. I think that's why he attacked you. I think he was just supposed to bring you back to _him_."

Christina's eyes grew wide. "Can't we use the tracking device on the scepter?" Leander asked, eyeing his already weak girlfriend nervously.

Andrew shook his head grimly. "No, someone has to set off the distress signal."

Lauren swallowed the lump of sorrow for what she was about to say. "There's something else." The others turned to Lauren wearily and worried at her tone.

"I don't think all this news is good for Christina." Leander told Lauren, his voice stern.

Christina, however, hit Leander lightly. "No. I want to hear what else is going on."

Leander looked ready to argue but Lauren continued on, "A student was killed three days ago by _them_." She threw a couple of pictures of the body at the three fellow teachers and turned away so she wouldn't cry.

Christina began to shake. "This is my student." She whispered picking up the picture. "We lost another student?!" She screamed this time, her blood pressure rising. Leander sent a resentful look at Lauren, clearly upset with her decision to bring this up now.

Andrew's face grew dark at her comment. "She's right you know." He whispered quietly, "We've already lost two students to this guy. Can we really afford to lose another one?"

Leander now stood up annoyed. "Well what exactly do you suggest Andrew? Shut down the schools?!" He asked his tone unpleasant and sarcastic.

Lauren kept her head down as she spoke slowly. "Exactly."

Christina raised a single eyebrow and looked apprehensive at Lauren. "You can't be serious Lauren." She reprehended laughing nervously until Lauren made no move to symbolize it was a joke. "Lauren. You are joking right?" Christina repeated herself again but Lauren still remained unmoving.

"Lauren! How do you expect the students to defend themselves without any form of training?" Leander asked, turning to face the headmistress of Alfea.

"I haven't thought that far ahead Leander. As of right now, the only thing on my mind is how are we going to keep our students safe? Because obviously, what we are doing right now is not working!" Lauren justified herself, growing louder at the end. The room fell silent as each of the teachers took their time to think of some new defensive system.

"We could set a new curfew, create a magical barrier around the schools to ensure their safety. Get new guards. . ." Andrew trailed off, listing the things he thought might help but Christina shook her head.

"No. That will just make the students feel imprisoned." She told Andrew off-handedly.

"Can we discuss this later? I think we can all do with a good night's rest." Leander suggested as he yawned. Lauren sighed and stood up, followed by Andrew.

"Get better soon Christina. I am sorry we had to have this discuss just as you woke up." She apologized softly before closing the door to the hospital room.

_**~ Soarix ~**_

Kristina, Pay, and Lyra stumbled around the barrier of Alfea in complete silence. Kristina had wanted to go for a walk and Lyra and Pay volunteered to go with her. No one wanted anyone to be left alone after what had just happened. They all walked in silence. No one had said much since the discovery of Harmony's body three days ago. It seemed as though a vow of silence had fallen on the group of nineteen students and no one wanted to be the first person to break it. Everyone had different ways of dealing with the shock and hurt. Kristina had stopped eating and began to simply lock herself in her room. Pay would sit on the couch in the freshmen lobby and stare at the wall in front of her for hours. Lyra perhaps showed the least amount of grievance, or maybe it was just because she didn't talk in the first place that no one seemed to notice how she was coping with things.

"What are you three doing out here?" A new voice came from behind the girls. They spun around to face a senior who was in charge. The senior was Madison Lee Worchester, fairy of the forge.

"We've been given special permission by Ms. Nelson to take a walk." Pay told the older fairy, who raised an eyebrow in suspicion. Lyra sighed, pulling out the small slip of paper from her back pocket and handing it to Madison. Madison read over it quickly prior to thrusting it back into Lyra's hands. She nodded, "It seems she has. Out of curiosity, why did she give three freshmen clearance to wander the halls while most seniors are forced to remain in their rooms after nine?"

The three girls exchanged looks. Lyra's of shame, Kristina's of annoyance, and Pay's of pain. "That's really none of your business." Kristina snapped, turning around and continuing on her walk. Lyra and Pay gave one last glance to Madison before turning to follow her.

Kristina was already ahead of the girls, storming off in her own little world. She was angry to say the least, that the ignorant senior fairy had asked such an offensive question. Sure, she didn't really know that it was an insensitive question, but Kristina couldn't help but feel resentment. Everything that she and her friends had been through in the past few days just didn't seem fair, it was almost unreal. After they had told a teacher about Harmony, the group huddled together, away from everyone else. No one else understood. No one else felt the things that the large group of magical beings felt. How could they? They didn't discover the dead body of Harmony Dasen. They didn't talk to her moments before she left this world and traveled on to the next one. Once Alfea had been cleared, Pay, Kristina, Lyra, Sam, Alyx, Illeana, and Riley made it perfectly clear they wanted to share a room. There was no argument there. Ms. Nelson happily obliged, doing whatever she could to take the girls' minds off the events that had happened just a day before. In all the drama about Harmony, the group practically forgot about Ms. Moore. That is, until Raiden brought it up to another teacher, Mr. Witley. The teacher however pushed it off and told them that Ms. Moore had been found and was safely lying in the hospital and before the students could pester further, scampered off.

Pay and Lyra finally caught up to Kristina. Pay placed her hand on Kristina's forearm causing her to come to a halt. "Kristina slow down. We can't leave school campus, you know that." She scowled the girl and Kristina looked around confused. She had been so deep in thought; she didn't even notice that she was heading toward Red Fountain, away from the safety of Alfea.

Kristina blinked. "Sorry." She mumbled. "I don't know where I was going."

_Obviously. _Lyra signed but Kristina and Pay looked blankly at her and Lyra sighed, she had forgotten that they didn't know sign language. _Never mind. _She signed again and mentally smacked herself when she saw her two friends continued blank stared.

"Eventually, I learn to sign Lyra, I swear." Pay promised seeing the frustrated and disappointed look on Lyra's face. Lyra gave Pay a small smile and nodded, not truly believing the ginger headed girl. Pay turned her attention back to Kristina, who was staring off in the distance, her head cocked and her face showing signs of alarm. "Kristina?" Pay asked cautiously. "Kristina, what do you see?" She asked again.

Kristina didn't answer for a minute, and then muttered, "It's nothing. I just-just thought I saw something in the forest." Pay and Lyra followed the younger girl's glaze but their eyes weren't adjusted enough to see what she was trying to see. Kristina shook her head and looked away from the forest and to her friends. "Let's just go inside. It's cold out here."

As the trio took their first step towards the school's grounds, a snap of a twig spun them all around once more. "Okay. Now I know something is out there." Kristina garbled and took a defensive position along with the other girls.

"Who-whoever's out there, show yourself?" Pay commanded weakly but it came out as more of a question. Two shadowy figures slowly began to make themselves known as they approached the girl with no hesitation.

The first was a tall man, in his early thirties. He had short black hair and his eyes were reversed and had black irises and white pupils. The second was a tall, lean woman. She looked to be around nineteen and had waist length blood red hair. Her eyes were a clear silver color and on the side of her face there was a Celtic knot tattoo that starts at her temple and curls around her right eyelid.

The three freshmen naturally took a step back, quite shocked at the two intruders' appearances. Lyra honestly thought that it was probably just some Red Fountain boys sneaking around, not two notorious looking villains. When the three girls' didn't speak, the woman gave a smile that could actually kill.

"Look Ozar," She said smiling ruthlessly. "Three little freshmen fairies."

The man, or Ozar, also gave a merciless smile. He licked his lips, his eyes traveling over the trio's bodies. "What should we do with them, Cyra?" He asked and began to circle the girls in a way the resembled a wolf stocking its prey.

"I don't know." Cyra answered, pretending to be deep in thought, as if she didn't already now what she was going to do to them.

"Leav-ve this school." Kristina told the two villains, barely stuttering, but none the less still struggling to get the words from her mouth. Ozar laughed cruelly and took a step in front of her, getting right in her face.

"You think you can make us freshmen?" He asked smiling his black-toothed smile. "Go right ahead. Try." He dared her but she made no move. He moved in closer before grabbing her wrist and dragging her towards him.

What happened next, no one was sure. One minute, Kristina was being dragged to her doom by the devil's doppelganger, and the next they were both on the floor. Ozar hissing in pain and Kristina breathing heavily. Cyra narrowed her eyes at the curly headed girl as Kristina retreated to her friends, literally shaking.

"She's been marked." Ozar hissed lowly, still clenching his hand to his chest. Cyra's eyes widened at this and then narrowed. She waved her hand in the air and murmured an enchanting spell. As a dark purple light began to glow from each of the three girls, she stumbled back.

"We've found them Ozar! We've found them."


	9. Chapter 9

_**Chapter Eight**_

_**Family Matters **_

"_We've found them Ozar! We've found them." _

Kristina instinctively took a step back and Lyra and Pay followed in suit. "Who the hell are you and what do you want?" Kristina hissed bravely, but did not dare to take a step forward. The two adults, however, ignored them. They began whispering, glaring at the three girls to make sure they didn't escape. Kristina, while keeping her eyes on Cyra and Ozar, asked Pay and Lyra in a hush whisper, "I don't suppose either of you two remember the chant that Ms. Moore used to transport us."

Lyra shook her head dejectedly, but Pay thought about it for a moment. "I _think _I do, but for all I know, I could blow us up." She told Kristina and Kristina shrugged.

"I'm pretty sure if we wait around here, we _will _be blown up." She said nervously. Pay nodded and held out her hands as a gesture for them to all hold hands. Kristina took hold of the red-haired girl's small hand, and Lyra had a bit of a firmer grip.

"Please let this be right." Pay whispered and shut her eyes tightly. "_Ianuae Magicae schola Heroas!" _

Just like when Ms. Moore had transported the students, the floor around them began to spin and the trio began to feel nauseous. As soon as the spinning stopped, the trio let go and landed in the same spot they had just days earlier. Lyra sat up, looking around at the school of heroes. She sighed, trying to shake the unpleasant memories that were beginning to form. Pay, Kristina, and Lyra stood up. Pay casted a look down at her phone and grimaced at the time. "There's no way anyone's up right now, its past midnight."

"Well, can't you just transport us into Alfea?" Kristina asked, patient wearing thin.

"No. I could only transport us here because I remembered the exact words Ms. Moore used." Pay explained rolling her eyes at the younger girl's stupidity.

"Well why don't you just say, transport to Alfea?" Kristina asked equally annoyed. Lyra tried to get the attention of the two bickering girls but it was of no use.

"It's in Latin Kristina." Pay answered narrowing her eyes, "And unless you know Latin, I can't do anything."

Kristina made a noise that sounded like a cross between disappointment and annoyance but said nothing. She then pulled out her phone and began dialing, chanting something that sounded a lot like 'Please pick-up,' and 'Answer the damn phone Logan.'

"Logan?" She asked into the phone and Pay and Lyra held their breathes.

"_Kristina? What the hell are you doing up right now?" _

"It's a long story. Look, we're outside Red Fountain, could you come and –"

"_You're outside Red Fountain? Alone? At this time of night?! How stupid are you Kristina?" _Logan grumbled into the phone and Kristina could hear him getting up and moving around.

"You know what Logan?" Kristina hissed into the phone, obviously pissed off, "Never mind." And before Logan could even reply, she clamped her phone shut and shoved it in to one of her pockets. "I suggest we call someone else. My brother isn't going to be of any help, I can assure you that."

The trio fell silent for a moment, each trying to think of who they could call. Pay's face suddenly brightened. "What about Mr. Witley? He gave us his number when he wanted us to look for Ms. Moore.

Lyra and Kristina both looked apprehensive about calling a teacher, seeing as how they didn't want to explain why they were off campus in the first place, but finally Kristina spoke up, shivering slightly. "Call him," She sighed, hugging herself, "Detention is better than standing outside in the cold."

Pay shot a look at Lyra, who shifted uncomfortably before nodding. Pay sighed and pulled out her cellphone, scrolling through the contacts list.

When she finally found the contact she was looking for, she pressed the green call button. It rang twice before the phone was answered.

"_Hello? Who is this?" _The voice on the other end asked sounding dazed and confused.

"This is Payson June sir." Pay answered shakily. "I'm a student at Alfea and something happened and now, um, two of my friends and I are kind of stuck outside of Red Fountain." She told the teacher and waited for the yelling to begin.

It never did though. _"I'll be right there." _He told her in a tight voice, and he was good on his word. Seconds after she had closed the phone, the older teacher appeared before her.

_**~Soarix~**_

"This is a _Siren_. _Sirens _are half women half bird creatures from Greek Mythology. However I assure you these women are very real. They are thought to be the descendants of fallen angles. While our professors have yet to confirm _that _rumor, it should be known that _Sirens _are very dangerous. If you come upon a Siren . . ."

Illeana, however, had long ago drowned out Defense Against Mythological Creatures Teacher long ago. She sat with her head on her desk resting on her folded arms. She struggled to keep her eyes opened after the long night she had encountered before. All she wanted to do today was sleep, but she realized that it probably wasn't the best idea to skip class so early into the school year. Besides, she wanted to have something else to focus on, anything else in fact. Worrying about school work felt normal to her, and Illeana welcomed any sense of normality she could get.

The rest of her morning classes went on boringly the same and Illeana managed to not be called on practically at all. By the time lunch was about to come around, Illeana was eagerly ready to dive face first into a pile of food.

"_Attention all students, attention all student. The following students are needed to report to Ms. Nelson's office immediately, the following students are to report to Ms. Nelson's office immediately. Roxanna Dara, Payson June, Lyra Silvermist, Jennifer Tyrren, __Carolyn Acserence, Samantha Quinn, and Illeana Von Christ."_

Illeana nearly fell out of her chair at the sound of her name. She looked around at the class and noticed that everyone was staring at her. Blushing, she rose from her seat and traveled quickly to the door, accidently slamming it behind her. As quickly as she could without running, Illeana made her way down to the office, trying to hide her madly red blushing checks as she knocked on the door of the office. A soft voice called, "Come in," and Illeana pushed open the door.

As she stepped in, she noticed that she was the last one of her roommates to arrive. Kristina, Pay, Lyra, Sam, Riley, and Alyx were already scattered around the room sitting or standing in varies positions.

"Ah, Miss Von Christ, please make yourself comfortable, we were just about to begin." The Headmistress told Illeana in a gentle voice. Illeana nodded and decided to take a seat next to Alyx. She arranged herself so she was sitting with her legs folded underneath her. "Well girls," Ms. Nelson started off, "let me first say that I am completely and utterly at lost for words when I think about all you've experienced in the past few days."

The room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. None of the girls said a word, mostly because they were all so deep in thought about Harmony's body, not to mention all of their mini-adventures that had taken place over the weekend.

"Now," She turned to address Pay, Lyra, and Kristina, all of whom were sitting in a small corner looking pale and slightly sick. "Last night a man and a woman approached you." She stated for confirmation and the trio slowly nodded their heads. "Were any of these the two who questioned you?" She asked and waved her hand in the arm and a picture appeared that had seven people in it. Kristina managed a nod, but Pay and Lyra just stared at the picture in astonishment. Ms. Nelson looked as though she had just swallowed the foulest tasting thing in the dimension.

"I thought so." She muttered to herself but the room was so quiet, the rest could hear it. Pay, Lyra, and Kristina shared a look before turning to Ms. Nelson.

"Ms. Nelson, there is something else you should know." Pay said quietly, as if hoping the headmistress wouldn't hear her. Ms. Nelson looked up. "The two adults who approached us chanted something then we started to glow and then they said 'we've found them' and that's when we escaped." Pay rushed the words out of her mouth before she lost her courage but all the words slurred together and sounded like one huge word.

But Ms. Nelson caught it all. She felt her breath get caught in her throat. She swallowed painfully nodded, which seemed to be very difficult for her. "All right." She muttered and then in a louder voice, "I am going to have to ask you not to step foot off this campus, any of you."

The girls looked at her confused and slightly annoyed. "Why?" Kristina asked sounding more than slightly annoyed.

"Just do as I say!" Ms. Nelson snapped and the girls cringed. "Now get out of my office." She added and the girls, after one final weary look, exited without another word.

The door was slammed and locked behind them and each of the girls exchanged a look.

"Do you guys think. . ." Alyx started but trailed off at the end. The freshmen stood in uncomfortable silence for about a minute outside of Ms. Nelson's office. "Why don't we just go ahead and go back to the dorm." Alyx suggested, ironically pointing in the wrong direction considering that fact that her mind was so cluttered.

No one noticed though. They all just simply nodded and started walking down the rather long hallway.

Lyra's mind was absolutely buzzing. All these different thoughts swirled in her mind as she followed her friends up the staircase to their dorm. How was she supposed to react? The headmistress of Alfea had just banned her and her friends from leaving the campus. Why? What could possibly be out there that was targeting just her and her friends. It just made no sense to the mute girl. Why had Harmony died? Why did she, Kristina, and Pay glow purple when those adults did a spell? Why did the man say Kristina was marked? Was she marked? Were her friends? Lyra literally tripped (but luckily caught herself) over the carpet she was so deep in thought. The others must have been too because they showed no signs of even noticing that Lyra tripped. To top it off, it seemed that they had somehow made it to their dorm without the majority of them noticing.

The girls scattered themselves around the common room, each in their own little world still. Illeana choose the large sky blue loveseat of which she shared with Sam. Kristina sat with her knees to her chest on the couch. Alyx sat next to her with a dazed look plastered onto her face. Pay also sat on the couch next to Alyx rubbing her temples. Lyra had chosen to sit in a large pink recliner with Riley on the arm of the chair.

The silence in the room didn't last long, about two minutes after they had gotten themselves situated, Alyx's phone rang loudly. The girls jumped at the sudden sound but relaxed when the realized it was just a phone. Alyx answered it without even glancing at the caller ID.

"Hello?" Her tone was hoarse and she sounded slightly depressed.

"_Alyx? Are you okay? You sound kind of depressed." _

"Oh, hey Jared. Yeah I'm fine. Things are just a bit, strange around here." Alyx told the boy, and her voice had perked up considerably.

"_Oh. Well would now be a bad time to visit?"_

Alyx looked around at the either gloomy or deep-in thought faces of her friends and roommates. "No, I think this might be the perfect time to visit." Alyx answered honestly.

"_Well great! We'll be there in a couple of minutes!"_

"We?" Alyx repeated.

"_Yeah. It's alright if the rest of the squad comes over, right?" _

Alyx hesitated. "Um." She pulled the phone away from her ear and turned to her friends. "Do you guys mind if the Specialists come over?" She asked the girls and the all either grumbled 'no' or just shook their heads. "Yeah. It's fine if they come over. See you in a bit." She told Jared and closed her phone, watching her friends carefully.

"Great." Sam mumbled, pushing herself off from the couch. "Now I have to go make myself look presentable." She stood up and stretched her hands above her head before entering one of the three bathrooms.

Kristina also rolled her eyes. "If anyone needs me, I'll be in my room until my brother leaves." She also stood up and strolled into the center dorm room that she shared with Illeana. The door slammed shut and the room fell silent.

And it stayed like that until there was a soft knock at the door. Alyx rose to answer it, casting one final look at her roommates before swinging one of the large oak doors open and allowing twelve specialists to enter the dorm. The twelve teenaged boys walked casually into the common room, each making themselves comfortable in their own way. Sam chose then to appear and sat down on the floor, seeing as how her seat next to Illeana was taken by Raiden, and Sam also couldn't help but notice a faint blush appearing on the girls cheeks.

"So, uh, where's Kristina?" Logan asked without his usual smile, crossing his arms. Sam actually felt a little bit like she shouldn't tell him. The boy had a much darker look on his face than usual.

"She's in her room." Illeana told the teen, she seemed to be a little oblivious to the fact that the boy looked ready to kill. She seemed too caught up with the boy sitting next to her.

Logan gave a curt nod and made a move for the door, which is when Sam decided to intervene. "I'm not so sure you should go in there right now Logan. I think she wanted to be alone."

She had hoped that it would convince the boy not to storm into his sister's room, but his face just seemed to harden more. "Well I think it's high time that my sister learned that she can't have everything she wants." He told Sam, pushing her aside and barging in the room.

He slammed the door behind himself and Sam heard a cry of protest that seemed to come for Kristina. She turned to the others, trying to fix her upset composer.

Logan didn't get it. Sam was trying to save him from making the same mistake she had. She couldn't even begin to comprehend the guilt she was feeling when she thought of Harmony. The thought sickened her. _She _had done that to her friend. _She _had been the reason Harmony left. It was _her _fault. Just as the fortunate teller had predicted. Sam knew that she could never, would never, forgive herself. The burning feeling of guilt that currently rested in her stomach would never go away. Sam could honestly say she could never see herself moving past this moment in her life. How could she go on with this guilt?

Sam's thoughts were rudely interrupted by the sound of glass shattering and an angry scream. Sam looked around the common room, where her friends had been shocked into silence. In silence, the group mutually agreed to go ahead and check out just what exactly, the two siblings were doing.

As they clustered around the pale blue door, Pay was pushed forward to open the door. Pay looked around uncertainly at her friends before taking one quick deep breath and pushing open the dorm's door.

In the middle of the dorm in between the two beds stood Logan and Kristina having quite the standoff. Illeana notice with mild annoyance that the large glass vase that had once stood in the middle of the room was shattered at the twin's feet and then she noticed that Kristina's had was extremely cut up. She was breathing heavily with a blood-shot look in her eyes while Logan was standing defensively arms crossed and with an accusing glare. Neither of them seemed to realize that the others had entered the room.

"Way to go Kristina! Look at this mess!" Logan shouted, and Pay wondered if he was just pulling that card because he had run out of ammo.

Kristina's eyes narrowed while she sneered, "So what? Why do you fucking care?"

This seemed to have struck a completely different nerve with Logan. "Hm, I wonder why I _would _care. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I'm you brother!"

"Really? Are you? Cause you've sure never acted like it!" Kristina retorted and the group winced, most considering this a low blow.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Logan whispered in serious voice, Raiden could tell he was physically restraining himself at the moment.

"You know exactly what it means Logan." She told her twin, sneering his name. "Where were you when I was being picked on in elementary school?" She asked, her eyes piercing. She didn't give him a chance to answer. "Oh, that's right, you were laughing with them."

Logan opened his mouth multiple times, almost as if he wanted to say something but he just wasn't sure what to say. "Where were you, when I was jumped and almost assaulted?" She continued when he didn't say anything. "You were out with your friends drinking and staring at girl who were way out of your league!"

She continued on once again giving Logan no chance to retaliate. "You never acted like a brother to me Logan. You and William never cared about me! The only one who ever knew me and protected me was Caleb!"

Raiden could see how Logan flinched at the name and Raiden couldn't help but wonder why. Logan had lost his composition for a brief moment before quickly regaining it. "Oh yeah? Well where's precious brother Caleb now?" Logan sneered and Kristina lost it.

_**~ Soarix ~ **_

"I hope this is really important Lauren, I truly don't enjoy leaving Christina alone in the hospital." Leander told Lauren as he took the only open seat in the room besides Andrew.

"Believe me Leander, this is very important." Lauren told the teacher gravely. Leander raised a single eyebrow in suspicion but remained silent. "I'm worried about our students." Lauren started, taking a couple of deep breaths to calm herself. She looked away from her co-workers and towards the large glass window. She seemed worried that they were perhaps being watched. After a moment of internal battle, she walked quickly and briskly over to the window and drew the dark blue curtains closed, causing the room to be covered in shadows. "I believe _he _is after a group of my freshmen fairies."

Andrew winced at the simply sentence. He felt the room go hotter and he began to fan himself with his hand while doubtful horrible thoughts filled his mind. The thought of losing another student was almost unbearable for the older teacher. It just wasn't fair. It wasn't fair that this was happening to girls who had their entire lives ahead of them.

Leander's face hardened and his jaw set. He could feel anger pulse through him reaching all ends of his body. "How do you know that?" He finally asked when he could think of nothing else.

Lauren sighed and waved her hand over the air in front of her causing eight photos to appear, each one a student profile picture of a freshmen fairy. She started from the right, her hand floating over the picture of Payson June.

"This is Payson June. She's sixteen years old and from the Planet Pease. Unannounced to her, she is the fairy of Love and Peace."

She moved down the line. "This is Samantha Quinn. She is nineteen years old, a bit of a late bloomer, and from the planet Terra Nova. She is the fairy of Earth."

"This is Illeana Von Christ also nineteen years old and from the planet Ventos. She is the fairy of Wind and Air."

"Lyra Silvermist, the fairy of water, from the planet Aquaris and sixteen years of age. She also happens to be mute."

"This is Carolyn, better known as Alyx, Acserence. She's seventeen years old. She comes from the planet Tyrren and has the ability to control Fire."

"Jennifer Riley Tyrren, she's sixteen years old. She also comes from Tyrren and has the ability to control the Sun."

"Roxanna Dara, or Kristina, is fifteen years old. She's from the planet Kalinfea and is the fairy of Stars and Dreams."

Lauren's hand shook as she came to the last picture. "This," She began, her voice shaking. "Is Harmony Dasen. Harmony died seven days ago." She continued, her voice wavering.

Leander's hand curled into a fist as he listened to Lauren. The more he listened to Lauren, the more his thoughts drifted to Christina, or actually, Christina's brother.

Leander had never met the man, but from the stories that Christina told him, he didn't want to meet him. The ghastly man seemed to haunt his girlfriend in her nightmares.

"As you known, the Ring is growing stronger every day." Lauren told the two men with the deepest remorse. The two teachers nodded slightly absent-mindedly. "We as the Guardian Court are responsible for every fairy, witch, and specialist that passes through the doors of our schools." Another nod came from the Leander and Andrew.

"You can leave now. I'm sure you're both anxious to get back to Christina." Lauren dismissed the two and Leander thanked her several times under his breath. As they turned to open the door Lauren called to them once more. "Oh and Leander," He twisted at the sound of his name, "tell Christina I'll be by shortly to visit." Leander nodded and pulled open the door, exiting quickly.

Lauren slumped as the door closed and let out a deep breath that she had seemed to be holding forever. She went around to the other side of her desk and collapsed in her chair, thoughts of her injured teacher, frightened pupils, and dead students flooding her mind.

Andrew barely managed to keep up with Leander for the young man was taking long and quick strides. "Leander, wait." Andrew called to his friend and Leander actually paused, which surprised Andrew slightly. Leander spun on his heel and came to face Andrew with an exasperated expression.

"What is it Andrew?" He asked his voice low but not really as annoyed as Andrew would have predicted.

"I just want to talk to you for a minute before you return to the hospital." Andrew told the younger blonde. Leander sighed and shifted his weight so he was a bit more comfortable. Andrew caught up with him and the two began walking. "Look Leander, I know that you're planning to propose after Christina gets out of the hospital." He started and Leander stiffened.

"How did you know that?" He asked quietly, becoming quite fascinated in his shoe.

"I've known you for eight years. I know when you're planning something." He paused, and then with a smile added, "I had to with all those pranks you and your friends pulled." The ends of Leander's mouth twitched and Andrew could tell he was fighting a smile.

"Anyway," Andrew continued, regretting the seriousness of the discussion. "I urge you to reconsider Leander." He said and held his breath as he waited for Leander's backlash.

Leander stopped in his tracks and shook his head as if he didn't hear correctly. "Huh?" He managed to spit out.

"Leander. Please," He begged, turning so he was fully facing the man, "do not ask Christina to marry you."

Leander looked taken back. "Why? I thought you liked Christina?"

Andrew sighed. "Oh course I like Christina. She was my favorite student. That's why I'm telling you this. Leander." Andrew paused, almost in a melodramatic way. "A war is about to start. Do you really want to get married in the middle of that?" He asked and Leander thought about it. Andrew continued on, hoping to sway the man. "What if something happens to you? It would be too much for Christina to handle." He explained and Leander's face turned grim.


	10. Chapter 10

_**Chapter Nine**_

_**Sugar Plums**_

Pay struggled to get her suitcase up the stairs and to the fifth floor where her room was. This was the one part of vacation she hated. Coming back. Sure, she missed everyone greatly and couldn't wait to see all her friends again, but she was dreading school and, of course, that fact that some wack-job was trying to kill her and her friends. The small ginger finally managed to drag her suitcase in front of her door and pulled her key out of her pocket. She jammed it into the lock and twisted. The door swung open and she removed her key from the lock.

"Pay!"

Pay was immediately wrapped in a hug by Riley. After she recovered from her initial shock, she returned to hug.

"Riley How have you been?" She asked eagerly and followed Riley into the common room.

"Good! It was nice seeing my family after everything that's been going on here you know." She confessed and Pay nodded in agreement.

"Yeah." Pay looked around the common room, quickly discovering that she was the last one to arrive and that the Specialists were also there. "Wow. It's just one big party isn't it?" She joked and Riley laughed.

"Yeah, Daniel, Damian, and Logan were already over here in the morning and I guess that the others just kind of followed them." She laughed and Pay joined in. She did a quick head count and discovered that there was one extra person. Thinking she was mistaken, she recounted.

When she reached the same conclusion, Pay's face scrunched up in confusion. "Hey, is there someone extra here?" She asked and Riley's face lit up.

"Oh yeah!" She exclaimed and grabbed Pay's wrist, dragging her over to the couch were Daniel and a younger girl were sitting. "Pay meet Juliet. Juliet, this is Pay." Riley introduced them and Juliet stuck out her hand.

"It's nice to meet you." Juliet said politely and Pay shook her hand.

"You too." She returned a confused look still on her face. "If you don't mind me asking though, who are you?"

Juliet laughed and smiled. "I don't mind at all. I'm Daniel's sister." She told her and Pay blinked as though someone had just waved something really fast in front of her face.

She turned to Daniel. "What in the world happened over Winter Break?" She asked bewildered and Daniel launched into his story.

_Paige Wright walked slowly and deliberately up to Daniel, taking a couple of deep breaths as she went along. She fidgeted noticeably the closer she came to the senior specialist. She was nervous and absolutely dreading delivering this news. She took one final deep breath and tapped on the shoulder of Daniel, who was currently engrossed in a conversation involving the new female hand to hand combat teacher. _

_Daniel spun around to face Paige, a smile slowly spreading through his face as he swallowed her into a hug. "Paige!" He cheered, his face covered in a boyish smile, "It's been so long since I've heard from you! How've you been?" He asked leaning back._

_Paige bit her lower lip and brought her eyes to the ground. "Um, Daniel," She started, unsure of how to continue, "I don't really, um, know how to tell you this, uh, but, um," She took a deep breath to calm herself, "Daniel, your parents know about Juliet." She finished quickly, like ripping off a Band-Aid. _

_Daniel stopped breathing for a second. His eyes became glazed over as he grasped that his worst nightmare had just happened. He couldn't believe that his sister, his little baby sister, was discovered and she was likely to be executed soon. _

_He muttered thanks to Paige and said he had somewhere to be, pushing himself through the crowd. He managed to get outside fairly quickly where he then preceded to collapse on the soft green grass and tears filled his vision. _

By now, everyone else had joined Pay and Riley in listening to Daniel's story. All of his friends remained silent, completely engrossed with his story.

"Wait. You snuck onto your planet _by yourself_?" Raiden asked baffled. "The planet that hates you and banned you for life?"

"Well, I didn't go in completely by myself." Daniel informed them and shared a look with four people in the room.

"_I need your help." Daniel told his four friends who stood uncomfortably before him. He knew what he was asking was slightly ridiculous, but he also knew that he couldn't do what had to be done alone. _

"_Daniel," Damian started tentatively, "Are you sure about this? I mean, I know you want to get your sister out of there, but your planet is highly protected. Not to mention by doing this we're putting Kristina and Illeana at risk. If we do get caught, they'll be taken and their powers drained." _

_Daniel bit his lower lip, his mind racing. He definitely didn't want to put his friends at risk, but he had to rescue his sister. It just wasn't an option not to go. He supposed that he really didn't need the girls; it would just make everything run so much more smoothly if they agreed to come. His sister was just so young. She was barely twelve. She wouldn't survive long in a power draining machine. _

_Before Daniel could say anything though, Illeana stepped up. "Look, I don't know about Kristina, but you're my friend and if you need help, I'm there for you. I want to help." She told him sincerely and from behind her, Kristina nodded in agreement. _

"_I do too." Kristina reassured him after seeing the all too familiar guilty expression that was plastered on his face. "Look, worst comes to worst, Illeana and I can teleport us all out of there. We should try."_

_Daniel nodded, a hesitant smile gracing his lips. _

_Logan, who had been quiet throughout this entire exchange, pushed himself off the wall he was leaning on. The others look at him wearily. No one quite being about to read his expressionless face and his tense body stance. "If you all really want to do this," He started, his face still impassive, "We're going to need a damn good plan." And he smiled at his comrades. _

"So just like that, you guys decided to go on what might have been a suicide mission?" Alyx asked shaking her head. Daniel laughed reticently, confirming what she had just said. "I swear, one of these days we're all going to get ourselves killed."

"So how'd you do it?" Alex asked, wanting the story to continue.

_Daniel silently casted the thick rope down the interior wall of the castle. He nodded to Damian before handing the rope to him so Daniel could lower himself down. He quickly realized as he reached to end of the rope that he would have to jump onto the window seal before he was able to jump down. Swinging the rope until he reached the firm ledge, Daniel jumped, steadily landing on the window seal. He then without caution or hesitation jumped from the ledge of the window seal to the tile ground, tumbling slightly as he reached the bottom. He stood up and reached his arm up to help Illeana down from the window seal, hoping to ensure that she had a softer landing than he did. "Okay, quietly follow that hall to the very end." He whispered hoarsely, pointing down the dark narrow hallway. "My room should be at the very end," He paused, then as an afterthought added with a shaky laugh, "Unless they've already demolished it."_

_He turned back to help Kristina down, but he discovered that she, Logan, and Damian had already jumped down. "Okay, you three follow that hallway," He instructed the twins and his best friend pointing down the opposite hallway. "Illeana and I are going to head down this one. Hopefully, Juliet will be in one of these rooms. And remember Kristina, don't transform unless you absolutely have to. The castle has Magic Detectors, so if you transform, they'll know we're here." Kristina nodded once and shot him a sympathetic look before turning to follow her brother and Damian down the hallway. _

_Daniel sighed once more before taking off down the hallway to his childhood bedroom. When he arrived there, he found Illeana standing awe-struck in the middle of his old room. He took a quick glance at his room and was slightly surprised with how little it had changed in the four years he had been gone. "Your room is really nice." Illeana stated awkwardly after a moment of silence. Daniel nodded, swallowing the lump that was growing in the back of his throat. _

"_I got everything I wanted as a kid," he told her, his voice tight with emotion, "just as long as I kept quiet and agreed with everything my parents said."_

_Illeana took a couple of steps before finally settling herself on his king sized bed. "So when did you decided that you didn't believe what your parents believed?" She asked and Daniel casted his eyes to the ground, memories filling his eyes. _

"_Uh," He started after thinking about his answer for a moment, "when I was twelve, I found out that Juliet was a fairy, and that pretty much did it for me. I knew that someone like Juliet couldn't be evil, and if she wasn't then maybe the others weren't either."_

_Illeana stared at him eyes wide but not judging. "There's no way that your parents would have accepted Juliet?" She asked her tone light, friendly._

_Daniel hesitated, seeming to search for the right words. "My parents were -are- very religious people." He told her, taking a seat beside her on the bed. "On this planet, it's believed that the devil takes a form in magical beings. You know, that people who are magic sold their soul to the devil in exchange for the power." Daniel explained. Illeana blinked, slightly surprised. She reached out towards Daniel, searching for words to comfort the young man who seemed so lost and confused by what he was talking about. "I use to believe that." He said, finally looking her evenly in the eyes. When Illeana didn't say anything, he continued, "I used to think it was funny when they come into school and dragged some poor kid out for being a fairy or for being a wizard. God! I used to joke about it with my friends! We used to mimick their screams and their cries! We said they deserved it!" Daniel ranted, finally ripping himself off the bed and beginning to pace around to room. Daniel continued to pace as he felt a new wave of guilt wash over his body as he thought of all the faces of the magical children he had once known. _

"_Daniel." Illeana whispered simply, standing up and placing a hand on his shoulder. "It's not your fault you thought like that. Your parents brainwashed you, okay? It what you think now that matters." She wrapped her arms around the specialist, muttering comforting words to him. _

_Their moment, however, was interrupted by a child's voice whispering, "Daniel?" _

"Wait a minute." Sam interrupted then turned to Kristina and Logan. "Weren't you two fighting before break?" She asked confused and Logan scratched his head embarrassed, not quite meeting the eyes of anyone else.

"Yeah. We were."

"And that didn't cause any problems?" Cameron asked skeptically.

"I wouldn't say that . . ." Kristina confessed before telling their side of the story.

_Kristina walked quickly yet stealthily down the opposite hallway, finally catching up with Logan and Damian about half way down. "Nice of you to join us Kristina." Logan taunted, already picking a fight with his sister. _

"_I'm so not doing this with you right now Logan." Kristina responded, not even sparing Logan a glance. Damian held his breathe, hoping that the two fifteen year olds would get a hold of themselves and focus on the task at hand. _

"_Not doing what?" Logan asked innocently, and this time Kristina did spin to look him in the eye._

"_I'm not playing your little game of comebacks." _

"_Well obviously. You were never good at comebacks."_

"_I am totally good at comebacks!"_

"_Oh yeah, you're great at comebacks."_

"_Shut up Logan."_

"_You shut up!"_

"_Why should I? I'm not the one making stupid comments!"_

"_And I'm not the one acting like –"_

_But Logan never gotten to finish his sentence as Damian, who was usually a quiet and peaceful man, spoke louder than either sibling had ever heard him speak before. "Will you two just shut up already? God! It's like you're in preschool fighting over who gets the blue train!"_

_That quieted the two down faster than Damian had ever seen them get quiet before. _

_Not that it really mattered. _

_Unfortunately for the trio, their shouts had attracted the attention of five guards, who didn't like very friendly. As the five guards closed in on them, Kristina began to whisper "Wi-" but was stopped by Damian, who held his hand in front of her. _

"_Remember what Daniel said?" Damian whispered to her and Kristina dropped her stance. _

"_Well, should I just fight like you guys?" She asked and Damian nodded. She took one look at the five guards in front of her and took a deep breath. "Oh this is so not going to end well." _

Daniel stopped Kristina from finishing the story. "I don't think we need to hear how the fight went since we all know how it ended."

Logan, Damian, and Kristina gave him a grateful look.

_But how did you guys get out of there if they were captured?_ Lyra asked and Riley quickly translated.

"Well . . ." Daniel began.

_Daniel pushed Juliet behind him as soon as he read the door knob jiggle. He readied himself for what was about to greet him. "Illeana," He whispered, his tone grave, "get in the closet and do not come out no matter what you hear. Stay in there until either I or Juliet tell you it's safe. If I get taken __**do not wait for me. **__Find Kristina, Logan, and Damian and __**get Juliet out of here.**__" Illeana was ready to argue, to stand and fight with her friend, but the look of trust and valor on Daniel's face pushed her to do what she never thought she do after Harmony's death. She turned around and walked into the closet with no protest and no questions. She felt hot tears leave her eyes and stain her face as she struggled not to sob. She heard the door come crashing down and a yell of protest._

_Daniel stood protectively in front of his baby sister as he watched the monsters he had once called his parents come hurtling through the door of her room. He kept his face stoic as they and several other guards surrounded the two siblings. "Daniel." His father finally said after a moment. Daniel stared strait forward, his shoulders squared and his jaw set. _

"_Father. Mother." He greeted them, looking neither of them in the eye. He could feel Juliet shaking behind him and he fought the urge to yell and scream at his parents and then confront Juliet. _

"_So you finally came crawling back Daniel." His mother spat at him with a cruel dignified twist to her voice. She began to circle around her two children, judging their appearances. "It's such a shame." She started her voice sincere but her face mocking. "I just cannot comprehend how two children who had __**everything**__ turned into two bastards that we have to hid away" _

_Daniels face showed no change as his eyes shifted throughout the room. His eyes finally and regretfully met the eyes of his father. _

"_Why'd you come back Daniel?" His father asked his voice full of hatred and anger. "Did you want to rub it in our faces that we failed to raise a strong man to take the throne?" _

_Daniel licked his lips taking short breaths trying to resist saying a word to either of his parents. Behind him, he felt Juliet shake with trepidation. _

"_The silent treatment? Really Daniel. I was actually hoping you had matured and that's why you came back." His mother hissed at him coming to stand strongly beside his father. "No matter." She told him, a smug smile decorating her face. "If you don't talk I'm sure your friends will." She told him and snapped her fingers as five guards step forward. Two were holding Damian, who couldn't meet Daniel's eyes. Two were holding Logan who was standing still, his jaw set, looking ready to at any moment make a run for it. And the last one was holding Kristina, who was thrashing in his grip and making empty threats to the man such as 'I will kick your ass so hard you'll never find it!' and 'I swear to God if you don't let me go I'll make your life a living hell!'_

"_Dammit." Daniel hissed, not upset with his friends, but worried for all of their safety. _

_His mother made a move towards Kristina, who stilled when she approached. When reached Kristina and began to run her hand through Kristina's curly hair. This didn't sit well with Logan. He began to struggle in the grip of his captures and yelled, "Leave her alone you Bitch!" _

_Daniel's mother, however, continued on as if she hadn't heard him. "Tell me Daniel; is this one a little fairy like your dirty little sister?" _

_Daniel continued to ignore the woman, driving himself not to look away from his friend, who while tried to appear pissed off, looked truly afraid. _

"_No answer?" His mother sneered sounding disappointed. "Alright." She turned her back to Daniel and spoke directly to a couple of the guards, making it loud enough that even Illeana could hear it through the closet. "Take the girl down to the dungeon. Go ahead and hook her up to one of the Imbibers, but don't start it yet. I think her friends will want to be there when she shakes the devil's soul from inside her." _

_The guards gave a curt nod before beginning to try to push Kristina out of the room. "LEAVE HER ALONE!" _

_Everyone in the room froze at the sound of Daniel's hoarse but strong voice. His mother raised an eyebrow. "Why Daniel afraid we'll find something?" She asked coarsely. Daniel struggled to keep his emotions in check. Instead of answering his mother, he turned his attention to Logan, Damian, and Kristina. He nodded his head, signaling them to break free from the grips of their captures and fight back. He received a small nod from each teen. He looked back at his mother. _

_He waited a spilt second before shouting, "NOW!" and several things happened at once. _

_First, Logan elbowed one of the guards that was holding him roughly in the stomach and then stomped on the second's foot. He managed to escape from their grip and threw a firm punch at the jaw of the first guard and a second later he kneed the other guard in the stomach. He bent down out the reach of the two guards' grips and tricked them into hitting each other in the head. They both stumbled backwards and into other guards, throwing everyone off balance as Logan drew his phantom-blade and dexterously made his way over to Daniel's mother. Taking her by surprise, the young specialist caught her in a death grip, his blade pressed to her throat. _

_At the same time, Illeana decided that she was done waiting and at the moment Daniel called 'now', she was out of the closet and fighting her way to her friends. She managed to take out two guards without magic before having to transform into her fairy form. She then took out three more guards and placed herself firmly beside Juliet, defending the younger girl from the mass chaos that had erupted in front of them. _

_Kristina also threw a good solid punch at one of her captors, hitting him squarely in the nose. The man recoiled at the punch and was sent stumbling backwards, leaving Kristina to only deal with one man. She quickly took care of him by shouting a dirt name, causing him to look down, and when he did, she elbowed him in the face and then kicked him in the shins. He let out a howl in pain and released Kristina, allowing her to join Daniel, Illeana, Logan, and Juliet. _

_Damian was blinded the minute his best friend said now. The only thing that consumed his thoughts was rage. He was angry that Daniel had to live in this hell. He was angry that they had been caught, he was angry that Daniel's parents weren't more accepting. He swung his fists in random directions, feeling as his knuckles collided with the soft surface of skin. He heard his name being called and he stopped his swinging frenzy. He looked at Kristina, who was watching him with concern. _

"_Damian! Are you okay?" She asked and Damian nodded, his mouth feeling dry as he was unable to verbally answer her. He turned away from her questioning eyes and instead met the steady glaze of Logan, who was looking at him expectantly. Damian realized that Logan had Daniel's mother immobile with his blade against his throat. Logan nodded firmly and Damian realized what Logan wanted him to do. _

_Damian made his way to Daniel's father and tapped him on the shoulder. The moment the old king turned Damian balled up his fist and threw the hardest punch he had even thrown before. The King stumbled backward when Damian's fist collided with his face. Damian didn't even give him a chance to recover before he pulled him into a death grip very similar to the one Logan had Daniel's mother in. _

"_HEY!" Damian yelled, his voice sharp, cutting through the commotion that was taking place all around the room. _

_The minute the guards noticed that their beloved king and queen were in a hostage situation, they stopped fighting. They stood still, all exchanging glances of uncertainty. _

_Kristina smirked and dropped her defensive pose. "Hey idiots." She yelled her eyes full of cockiness. "Drop the weapons." She commanded and waited for a second as the guards hesitated. She rolled her eyes and in a firmer tone commanded once more, "I said, drop your weapons." She shot a look at Damian, who pressed his sword a little bit harder against the old king's throat. _

_Reluctantly the guards dropped their weapons. Kristina's smug look returned to her face and she resumed the role of negotiator. "Now, I want you all to back away from us slowly." She told them and they shot her looks of disgust, doing as they were told none the less. _

_Damian and Logan neared Kristina, Juliet, Illeana, and Daniel, the two royalties still in their grips. Wordlessly, Kristina put one hand on both of their shoulders and Illeana took the hand of Juliet, who was holding onto Daniel for dear life. Kristina looked at Illeana pointedly, signaling her it was time for them to take their leave. She then leaned into Damian and Logan and whispered, "When I say three, let them go." _

"_One."_

"_Two."_

"_Three!"_

_Logan and Damian released their captives and at the same time Illeana and Kristina chanted, __"__Ianuae Magicae__ad__scholam__prædictas Fatales__!" And the world began to spin. _

"Wow." Sam breathed when the story was done. "I kind of wish that I hadn't gone back to my planet for vacation now." She joked and the others laughed.

"So after that?" Pay prompted.

"After that we celebrated Christmas here." Daniel finished and the entire group shook their heads bewildered.


	11. Chapter 11

_**Chapter Ten**_

_**Together**_

Lyra slowly became aware of her surroundings. She slowly moved her hands to her ears attempted to block out the ringing that echoed loudly in her head. When that did nothing, she dropped her hands and used them to push her up and off her stomach. She opened her eye gradually but the harsh light caused her to shut them again. She took a moment in order to push herself into a sitting position and then tried to open her eyes again. When she finally pried them open, she took notice of her surroundings. Wherever she was, it was damp and lite only by one light. As she tried to move and stand up in order to gain a better understanding of where she was, she was suddenly aware of how sore her body was. She hissed as she tried to gently lower herself back onto the ground. She decided that looking around from where she was sitting was good enough and began to take in her environment. Only in that moment did she notice that she was in a sort of cell, complete with bars and a springy bed. Her face scrunched up in confusion as she tried to recall what happened before she woke up here.

"Oh. You're awake." A girl's voice rang out and Lyra snapped her attention over to it. She attempted to move, momentarily forgetting her pain. But that moment was short lived though as pain shot through her rib cage and she gasped. "Oh yeah. You might be sore. Sorry about that but you put up one hell of a fight." The girl giggled, not sounding very sorry at all. Lyra took a moment to study the long haired blonde girl, trying to see if she recalled her face. "I'm Dawn by the way. In case you were wondering." The girl informed her as if she could read Lyra's mind. "And since you're awake, I guess I should go get Cyra and William." She sighed and turned just as Lyra began to try to sign.

Dawn stopped just before she reached the door, as if she had just thought of something. "It's a shame really. I wanted to be the one to torture you, but _He _thought I'm too young." She sighed and Lyra felt the blood drain from her face and her hands drop. Dawn turned, her face seemingly to have taken a new evil tint to it. "I know you're mute Lyra," Dawn taunted, using her name for the first time. Lyra felt her stomach drop. Now she never that this wasn't just some random attack. "I bet I could make you scream and beg." She whispered, having come as close to Lyra as she could and Lyra shuddered. "Like I said it's such a shame. Maybe Willy will let me watch." She said as she left, grinning at the thought of watching the sixteen year old being tortured.

As soon as Dawn was out of sight, Lyra felt herself having the beginning of a panic attack. A single word rang repeatedly in her mind. Torture. She felt her breath quicken as her eyes searched frantically for an escape. She forced herself to stand up, ignoring the discomfort. She moved over to the bars that trapped her in. She used them for support because her legs just didn't want to work with her.

By the time she had made it about half way down her cell, having to drag herself along the bars, Dawn returned with an unfamiliar man and a woman she instantly recognized as Cyra, the woman who had tried to kidnapped herself and Pay and Kristina. If it was possible, Lyra felt even sicker than before. Logic told her that she should back away from the bars and put as much distance between herself and her kidnappers as humanly possible, but physically, Lyra was just so drained and so tired that she didn't feel capable of doing so. So instead, Lyra stood with a death grip on the cold metal bars that imprisoned her as the man, who she assumed was William, took a key from around his neck and unlocked the cell. As he hung the key back around his neck, Cyra and Dawn strode into the cell and got much closer than Lyra was comfortable with. The older girl pulled the petite blonde's wrist toward her and quickly clamped a silver bracelet on. Lyra's eyebrows drew together in confusion as she looked at the small silver link bracelet.

"It keeps you from using your powers." Cyra informed her coldly. Lyra blinked confused but when it dawned on her what they meant, she grew pale. She was weak in powers already. She had no idea how big of a disadvantage she would be at not being able to use her powers. She felt herself beginning to be dragged away from the cell and into a dark room. She couldn't tell where she was, but she knew as she was being strapped down to a chair, it was not good.

Once Cyra finished the buckling the final strap, she stepped back, smiling at her handy work. "Your turn Dawn." She said turning to face the seventeen years old and Dawn smiled. She wheeled a cart over to Lyra from the corner of the room and Lyra could see that on it was some sort of machine. She watched as Dawn carefully place two suction cups on her chest. She felt her heart rate increase as she realized just what was going on.

"You will find that we here at the Ring prefer similar, cruder, methods of gaining information. If you ask me, people rely way too much on magic now a day." William told Lyra and Dawn finished up and handed William a small remote. "Now I'm going to make this very, very simply for you. I'm going to ask you a question and you're going to answer it. If you don't answer, or you lie, I am going to press this button causing an electric shock to run through your body. Don't worry, it's not enough to kill you, just enough to make you scream louder than you ever had before." He told her with a sardonic grin in place. Lyra's face took on a look of complete and utter terror. "Now, we'll start off easy. What's your name?" He asked and Lyra struggled to make her lips form words. She hadn't spoken in so long, so almost forgot how to.

A scream rippled through her body as William pressed down on the small red button. Her breathing increased into pain labored breathes as she closed her eyes, allowing hot tears to stream down her face. "Let's try again shall we? What is your name?"

_**~ Soarix ~ **_

"What the hell do you mean we have to 'stay put'?" Kristina cursed, her eyes narrowing in anger as she took a step closer to Ms. Nelson.

"You want us to sit here and do nothing while our best friend is stuck with some sadistic evil psychopath? Are you fucking kidding me?" Sam joined in, her blood boiling beneath her skin.

"I will remind you that I am still your headmistress Ms. Dara and Ms. Quinn." Ms. Nelson chided the girls, but Kristina and Sam didn't back down.

"I don't care! I'm not going on dorm lockdown when Lyra's gone!" Sam shouted crossly and Ms. Nelson shook her head.

"I'm sorry girls. It's for your own good." Ms. Nelson told them softly, walking out the door and shutting it softly behind her, trapping all six girls inside the room alone.

"This is bullshit." Sam said quietly sinking onto the couch, her eyes losing their fire. Pay quickly took a seat next to her friend, rubbing small circles into the brunette's back. The entire room was silent for a while. Pay sat quietly with Sam, trying to keep the girl calm, while Alyx and Riley had taken to pacing in front of them. Illeana had left the room, but t went unnoticed by the others. The only one who was making any real noise was Kristina, who was repeatedly pounding on the door and pulling on it, trying to get it to open.

The final straw for Sam seemed to be when Kristina kicked the door. Sam suddenly shot up and her entire body shook with anger. "Would you knock it off? God! That's not fucking help!" She exploded and Pay slowly slid away from the arising conflict. Kristina stopped what she was doing and turned slowly around. When she did, Pay could see the way the blood had all rushed to her face.

"Neither is anything you're doing!" She accused heatedly. "At least I'm trying!"

"What the hell do you want me to do?" Sam asked rhetorically. "We are locked in our dorm. We can't leave!" She informed Kristina and Kristina crossed her arms and scoffed.

"I know that Sam!" Kristina said and Pay could see the emotion threating to pour from the girl. She suddenly fell from her defensive stance into a bright pink arm chair. The brunette stared down at the floor and shook her head. Pay was pretty sure that the girl was crying.

"It's not fair." Riley whispered softly, causing everyone to look at her. The blonde had stopped pacing once Sam started to yell at Kristina. She now stood with Alyx beside her. Riley shook as she continued talking. "First Harmony and now Lyra? Who are these people? Why are they attacking us? How could they kill –"

But she was interrupted by Pay. "Don't." She whispered just loud enough for everyone to hear. Alyx look to her, seeing the blazing fire in the gentle red-head's eyes. "Don't you dare talk about Lyra like she's dead because she's not. She's strong and she will make it out of this alive."

The entire room fell silent at Pay's words, all sucked into their own little worlds. Alyx wasn't sure what to think. To have hope seemed to be stupid. She had seen what these people had done to Harmony, why should she believe that Lyra was any different. Why should she hope and believe just to be crushed if Lyra was found dead? She still had nightmares from when she saw Harmony's dead body, and she barely knew the girl then. Could she even count them as friends? But Lyra. Lyra was her friend. Lyra was her roommate. She could already see the sickening thought of Lyra's dead body being to form in her mind. She wasn't sure if she could handle that. The raven-haired girl rubbed her temples while trying to block the flow of disturbing images that began to take form in her mind. Alyx mind suddenly began to wander to her brother. Aaron's brutally attack and death. Her breathing picked up speed and she felt tears threaten to leak from her eyes. It was like life was out to get her. She saw her brother die. She saw her new friend's dead body. And now, now she was going to have to live with the idea of some sicko having Lyra and doing God knows what to her.

Illeana had reentered the room quietly. She had to take a moment to collect herself. To say that Illeana was upset was a bit of an understatement. It was like she was living her worst nightmare all over again. Only this time, it wasn't sudden. It wasn't as simple as a scream. No, Illeana was fairly certain that she could assume that whatever was happening to Lyra wasn't like what happened to Harmony, who had a quick death. A death that Illeana had always prayed was painless. Illeana knew that whoever had taken Lyra was evil. They had to be to be able to kill such a young girl. Of course, Illeana had her suspicions of who it was. She had been living in Magix for a while before she finally applied to Alfea. She remembered what happened last year to a sophomore fairy. She remembered how she locked her doors and windows then checked them three times after reading about it. It was a terrifying time in Magix where no one trusted each other. It was part of what convinced Illeana to register at Alfea. Now she couldn't help but wonder if she had made the wrong decision.

Pay was a gentle person. She didn't like violence and she didn't believe that fighting was the way to solve anything, but at the moment, she felt as though she could almost kill whoever was doing this to her and her friends. It was a feeling that Pay had never experienced before. It was almost as if someone had flipped a switch. Pay wanted to hurt the people who were hurting her. She could only imagine what her mute blonde friend was going through as they stayed locked in their dorm.

A knock of the girl's door interrupted all of their thoughts. They shared a puzzled look that then turned to weary. "Who is it?" Riley called out, not moving any closer to the door than she was.

"It's Damian and Raiden. We came to give Kristina something that was sent to Logan on accident." A muffled voice called through the door and the girls instantly recognized it as their hero friends.

"Come in." Pay told them, biting her lip. She remembered what she had learned from Charms class, that a door that was locked from the inside could be opened on the outside. All the girls stood up, praying that the door was open and they could sneak out.

Their prayers were answered when the door swung open and Damian and Raiden stepped in, Damian holding a small package. "Thank God!" Illeana cried out and ran to make sure the door didn't close. Damian looked at Raiden and the two raised an eyebrow.

"What's going on?" Raiden asked confused and watched as the girls scrambled to put on their shoes and Kristina, Pay, and Alyx gave a backpack.

"There's no time to explain." Kristina told them shaking her head. "Come on, we have to go get the other Specialists." She told them and ran out of the room followed by Illeana and Alyx. Pay finished stuffing things into her backpack and turned to face the boys.

"We'll explain on the way there." She told them gentle, trying not to make them as if they were in the dark. Damian nodded hesitantly and followed the three remaining girls out of the room.

"What's going on?" Raiden asked looking around as they tried to get out of Alfea unseen. "And where's Lyra."

Damian immediately knew something was wrong when he saw Sam, Riley, and Pay tense up. He turned to Pay, knowing she'd be the easiest one to get information out of. "Pay? Where is Lyra?" He asked, resounding Raiden's question. He watched as tears filled up her eyes and she struggled to remain calm.

"She- I- We-" But no matter how hard Pay tried, her mouth would not function with her. She could not tell the young men what was going on.

"She's gone. That's why we have to hurry. Did you come here in a ship?" Sam told him in a rush, quickly changing the subject before Raiden or Damian could press it.

But they didn't give it up. "She's gone?" Raiden echoed, his eyes filling up with panic.

"What do you mean she's 'gone'?" Damian asked incredulously.

"We don't have time for this. We have to go." Sam said shaking her head and moving to get up, but Damian grabbed hold of her wrist and pulled her back down.

"We're not going anywhere until you guys tell us what's going on." He told her but saw the hesitation in her eyes. He softened his voice and released his grip on her hand. "She's our friend too."

Sam looked down at the floor, unable to meet anyone's eyes. It was one thing hearing news that your friend was in the hands of a psychopath. It was another thing delivering it.

"She was taken by the same group that killed Harmony."

Raiden could physically feel the blood draining from his face as just the simple image of Lyra's possible future appeared in his mind. He pushed the thought away, refusing to allow himself to be negative. Raiden shook as he fought for control of his temper. He licked his lips, clearing his mind before speaking again. "How?" He asked, his voice quiet but full of a range of emotions.

"Excuse me?" Riley asked after a small moment of silence.

"How the hell did Lyra get taken by them?" He asked again, his voice growing as his face became redder.

Now the girls looked down, each one of their faces flashing with looks of guilt and sureness. "It was her turn." Pay explained, suddenly very interested in the pattern on her shorts. The boys waited for her to speak again but she didn't.

"Her turn for what?" Damian questioned and Sam bit the inside of her cheek with anticipation.

"Well, you guys know how we're not allowed off campus without an escort, right?" She asked and the boys nodded. "Well, lately, we've been taking turns using Magic to sneak off campus. We only do it like once a week and it's just so we can have some time alone, because trust me spending every second of every day with the same six people is not fun." She stopped seeing the death glares Pay and Riley were sending her. "Right. Sorry. Anyway, it was Lyra's turn to go off campus. She was just going to go to a movie. We had all done it at one point. We didn't think- I mean we didn't know-"

But Damian nodded, allowing the brunette to stop rambling on. The five teenagers stilled in the silence before Raiden cleared his throat. "So what's the plan?" He finally asked and the girls all snapped to attention unexpectedly.

"The plan?" Riley echoed confusion evident on her face. "The plan is to rescue Lyra." She told them, searching their eyes to see if it was just some joke.

"That's your plan?" Damian asked raising an eyebrow. "What are you going to do? Just walk in and say 'Oh I'm here for Lyra, don't mind me.' Oh yeah. That is a great plan, if you're planning to get yourself killed."

"Well obviously we weren't going to do _that. _We were just going to kind of improv it." Pay scoffed and then realized how bad the idea sounded.

"No wonder we were put on dorm lockdown." Riley sighed under her breath and the boys stared at her incredulously.

"You guys were put on dorm lockdown?" Damian asked unnecessarily and was ignored by the girls as the got up and tried to casually walk to the courtyard.

Damian and Raiden shared a look before running to catch up with them. "You guys tricked us into breaking you out of your dorm?"

_**~ Soarix ~ **_

Christina paced nervously around the teachers' lounge. She had been pacing ever since she had heard the news of Lyra Silvermist going missing. It was a terrifying thought, losing another one of her students. It scared her to think what the Snatchers, as she had nicknamed them, might be doing to the small mute sixteen year old girl. The moment she had heard what had happened, she tried to go out and search for her, but Leander had insisted that she stayed put at Cloud Tower because of the doctor's strict orders not to get overly excited or to become panicked. So here she was, waiting sick to her stomach for someone, anyone to call with new about Lyra.

Christina snapped out of her thoughts when her phone began to ring loudly. She pulled it out and flipped it open, pressing it to her ear with urgency.

"Hello?"

"_Christina?" _

"Leander. What's going on? Did you find her? Please tell me you found her alive." She begged, trying not to sound as if she was freaking out.

"_We didn't find her. We couldn't even find a trace of her. The time spells are useless. I don't know how, but the Snatchers managed to make it seems as though she never left Alfea when we know she did." _

"Why are you calling me then?" Christina asked somewhat coldly.

"_I wanted you to know that we think they left the city with her. Andrew's coming to get you. He should be there any second. We need __Zoe __Ashanti too. We figured she'd be more comfortable with you since you're one of her teachers." _

"Why do you need Zoe?" Christina asked.

"_I think you know why Christina." _

There was a soft click as Christina hung up the phone, her face grim. There's only one reason why Zoe would be needed. If they were trying to figure out if someone was alive or not.

Christina cursed as tears began to form in her eyes. She refused to let them fall, and instead walked out of the lounge and down the stairs to where she knew Zoe was at. Christina walked into the lunchroom and tried to smile as she passed her students. She walked over to where Zoe was sitting with her friends Jane Blast and Flare Night.

Christina gently placed a hand on Zoe's shoulder and the eighteen year old jumped slightly. "Zoe could you come with me please?" She asked and Zoe's eyebrows drew together to show her confusion. She nodded and followed Christina out of the lunchroom.

"What's going on Ms. Moore?" She asked and Christina sighed.

"We need your help Zoe. A friend of mine is going to come pick us up then we are going down town." Christina told the young woman.

"But I don't understand Ms. Moore, what do you need my help with?" She asked again and Christina sighed with relief when she caught sight of Andrew.

"Andrew. Thank God. I thought I was going to go insane being kept in the dark." She told him as they quickly exchanged a hug.

"Leander thought it was for the best." Andrew told her and she scoffed.

"I think I know what's better for me more than Leander does." She told him scornfully and then turned to Zoe.

"Zoe this is Mr. Witley." She introduced them and Zoe stuck out her hand, allowing Andrew to shake it.

"Nice to meet you Zoe, I'm sorry that the circumstances are so poor though." He told her honestly and then turned his attention back to Christina. "The ship is waiting outside."

Christina nodded and the trio began to walk to the courtyard. Zoe's mind was racing as she thought of all the possibilities as to why she was being called away. Was it possible that her sister was back and killing? Or did her mother get hurt and were they taking her to them? There were many reasons why Zoe could have been pulled out of school, but when Ms. Moore explained it, her jaw dropped. It wasn't what she was expecting at all. They wanted her to figure out if a fairy, who she had never met before, was still alive. While Zoe was a senior, and at the top of her class for that matter, she had never done magic like this before. It was a new idea and she didn't know how it was going to work.

As they stepped off the ship, Zoe felt a small pit growing in her stomach. What if she couldn't tell them if the girl was alive? What if she tells them the girls alive but then they find her dead? Or worst, what if she tells them the girl's dead when she's alive and living through who knows what kind of hell?

"Okay Zoe, I don't want you to feel pressured or to feel like it's the end of the world if you can't do this okay? This is new to all of us." Ms. Moore coached her as they approached the police station. Zoe nodded, though feeling the exact opposite.

Ms. Moore pulled the door open for Zoe and allowed her to enter first into the police station. All eyes turned to her as she came closer and one man pulled out a seat for her.

"Hi Zoe." He said kindly and Zoe greeted him back. "My name is Malcolm Screen. I'm the lead detective here in Magix. I'm going to show you a picture of Lyra Silvermist; she's the girl we're trying to locate. Then I'm going to give you her bracelet that we found at the crime scene. We're not exactly sure how this works and I didn't know if you needed a personal item or not."

"Well it couldn't hurt right?" Zoe asked gently, seeing how much stress the man was under. Malcolm smiled and handed her the photo of Lyra.

"That's her. She's sixteen years old and a freshman at Alfea. She mute, if that helps at all." He informed her and she nodded. He then proceeded to hand her a small bracelet. "This is her bracelet. We know she was wearing it when she got snatched."

Zoe nodded and crushed the metal in her hand. She sighed, hoping with all her might that this would work. She began to clear her mind, allowing the only thing she thought was of Lyra. She thought about what it must have been like to be mute and what she must be feeling if she was alive. She focused all her energy into the palm of her hand, trying to sense the girl.

Then she felt it. A small slow, yet steady, beating in her hand. She breathed out slowly, feeling pain in her ribs, realizing that that was what Lyra was feeling. She opened her eyes, sucking in air as the beating in her hand disappeared.

"She's alive." She whispered, out of breathe. "Just barely, but she's alive."

_**~ Soarix ~**_

"No way. No fucking way. No. I'm not doing that." Axel cursed after the girls, Damian, and Raiden explained that entire situation. The other's turned to look at him, surprised with his refusal.

"What do you mean you _won't_?" Daniel asked, though he knew exactly what Axel meant.

"I mean I won't risk my life and go on some suicide mission." He explained coldly, not caring about the looks his friends were giving him.

"Are you kidding me? It's Lyra? She's our friend! She would do the same thing for you!" Kristina cried angrily, resentment for the young specialist beginning to form.

"Look. Lyra was a nice girl, but she doesn't talk! How am I supposed to know her, if she's never said a word to me?" He asked and Sam narrowed her eyes.

"She did talk. She talked with her hands. If you can't appreciate her, you don't deserve to be her friend or deserve to come with us." Riley told him, seeming to be the only one who had kept her cool.

"Fine."

"Fine."

But as the group turned to leave, Alex stopped them. "I agree with Axel." He said quietly, going to stand by the other specialist.

"Then you're both jackasses." Tobe said simply and marched on to the ship, and the others appeared like they wanted to take a swing at the two boys but Illeana stopped them.

"Come on guys, we don't have the time to waste on them." It was as simple as that really. After Illeana's words, the group of sixteen, a group that was once a group of twenty, climbed onto the ship and didn't look back.

"So how are we going to find Lyra?" Jacob asked immediately as the group settled into chairs.

"Well we found this spell that we think will work." Riley told them and Damian turned around from where he was piloting.

"Anytime you guys want to do that, it be great, otherwise we're just going to be wandering aimlessly for a while." He told them before turning his attention back to what he was doing.

"Right. Well, since Lyra can control water, and I can control Earth, and Illeana can control air, and Alyx can control fire, we thought that maybe we could locate her be using an Elements charm." Sam explained as she, Alyx and Illeana made a circle.

"I'm not sure quite how well this is going to work, so you all my want to stand back." She suggested kindly and they did as they were told.

"From the Land," Sam started.

"To the Sky," Illeana continued.

"From Fire," Alyx added.

"To the Sea," They all chanted together.

"There is one part missing of me. Help us find the missing link. Water, oh water, come to me!"

There was a bright flash of light then the entire ship was silent, waiting for an answer.

"Maybe it didn't work." Kristina suggested and before anyone could reply, there was a flash of lightning and then it started to pour.

"Great." Logan commented dryly, "You guys did a rain dance."

The three girls sent him a glare before refocusing their attention. "I don't get it. Why didn't it work?" Alyx sighed, taking a seat in one of the chairs.

"Um guys," Damian called from the front of the ship. "You may want to take a seat and buckle up, this is a bad storm.


End file.
